Image: Supplied.

Consistency prevailed for Jeffrey Herlings at Riola Sardo as the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider charged to a milestone MXGP overall, as MX2 red plate-holder Jago Geerts was victorious in the second round of the 2023 championship.

Herlings stormed through the field to achieve 2-2 results in Sardinia, ultimately achieving his 100th world championship GP overall ahead of Glenn Coldenhoff (Monster Energy Yamaha) who went 5-1 for P2.

Red plate-holder Jorge Prado (Red Bul GasGas Factory Racing) won the qualifying race and moto one, but a sixth-place finish in the final race resulted in bronze for the Spaniard in round two.

Landing fourth overall was Maxime Renaux (Monster Energy Yamaha) courtesy of 4-3 finishes, as Dutchman Calvin Vlaanderen (Gebben Van Verooy Yamaha) completed the top five with 3-5 results.

Australia’s Mitch Evans (Kawasaki Racing Team) did not compete at Riola Sardo. The number 43 broke his thumb in the build-up to the season and was not able to complete the opening round in Argentina as a result.

In terms of the championship standings, Prado leads on 100 points ahead of Herlings in second with 93 and Renaux third on 78. Round one winner Ruben Fernandez (Team Honda HRC) experienced a challenging MXGP of Sardegna and finished 16th overall following a zero-point haul in race one and P11 in race two. He is now seventh in the title-race with 63 points.

Image: Supplied.

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Geerts emerged victorious in MX2 on countback, 2-1 scores seeing him ahead of moto one winner Kay de Wolf (Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing) in terms of the round result.

3-4 finishes landed Thibault Benistant (Monster Energy Yamaha) third at Riola Sardo, as Simon Laengenfelder (Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing) and Lucas Coenen (Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing) completed the top five with 3-7 and 6-4 scores respectively.

Also winning the qualifying race in Sardegna, Geerts extended his points lead to a sizeable 30 after two rounds, with de Wolf second and Bensistant third, one marker adrift from the Husqvarna rider.

The opening round of the Women’s Motocross Championship also took place at Riola Sardo, with Australia’s Charli Cannon (JK Racing) Yamaha landing seventh overall. Cannon recovered from a turn one incident in the first race to open her season with a P7, later finishing eighth in moto two as Daniela Guillen (GasGas) took the overall honours with 2-1 results.

Detailed results