Jeffrey Herlings wins again
and is close to celebrating his first MXGP title; Thomas Covington takes MX2
overall victory while Jorge Prado still leads the Championship
Afyonkarahisar (Turkey), 3 September 2018 – The
Grand Prix of Turkey staged the eighteenth round of the
2018 FIM Motocross World Championship and was hosted by the beautiful new track of
Afyonkarahisar, located about 300km from the capital Ankara.
Pirelli-equipped riders relied on the
SCORPION™ MX32™ Mid Soft front and rear tyres across the medium-hard terrain. The Italian brand's products continued to excel
in the wake of confirmation of their 70th FIM world title and dominated once more with excellent results in both categories and with motorcycles from various manufacturers.
Jeffrey Herlings obtained his fifteenth GP win this season and shattered another record of the
MXGP class. Thanks to the double moto haul in
Turkey, the strong Dutch rider now has a 95 point lead in the standings and in two weeks he could wrap up the title with one round still remaining.
Tim Gajser rode well to classify in second place and repeat his result from the previous weekend in
Sevlievo.
Gautier Paulin and
Jeremy Van Horebeek affirmed
Pirelli’s great presence in the premier class by taking fourth and fifth positions overall. After second place in first race,
Antonio Cairoli finished eighth overall due to a fall in the second moto that forced him to make a difficult comeback.
Thomas Covington toasted his first seasonal
MX2 class victory. The American won the opening moto and finished third in the second outing.
Pauls Jonass, thanks to the second place overall grabbed in
Afyonkarahisar, has reduced the gap to red plate holder
Jorge Prado, who was sixth overall in
Turkey. The two KTM factory riders are leading the standings and are separated by just 24 points in what is sure to be an exciting season finale.
Thomas Olsen finished on the third step of the podium ahead of
Hunter Lawrence, who has been a regular front-runner in recent races.
In two weeks time the spectacular track built inside the permanent
Assen motorsport facility will host the
Grand Prix of the Netherlands for penultimate round of
FIM 2018 Motocross World Championship.
Race results (Pirelli riders in bold): MXGP race 11. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED)2. CAIROLI Antonio (ITA)3. GAJSER Tim (SLO)4.DESALLE Clement (BEL)
5. VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy (BEL) MXGP race 21. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED)2. GAJSER Tim (SLO)3. DESALLE Clement (BEL)
4. PAULIN Gautier (FRA)5. SEEWER Jeremy (SUI)
MX2 race 11. COVINGTON Thomas (USA)2. LAWRENCE Hunter (AUS)3. PRADO GARCIA Jorge (SPA)4. WATSON Ben (GBR)
5. KJER OLSEN Thomas (DEN) MX2 race 21. JONASS Pauls (LAT)2. KJER OLSEN Thomas (DEN)3. COVINGTON Thomas (USA)4. WATSON Ben (GBR)
5. LAWRENCE Hunter (AUS) GP Overall: MXGP1. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED)2. GAJSER Tim (SLO)3. DESALLE Clement (BEL)
4. PAULIN Gautier (FRA)5. VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy (BEL) MX21. COVINGTON Thomas (USA)2. JONASS Pauls (LAT)3. KJER OLSEN Thomas (DEN)4. LAWRENCE Hunter (AUS)5. WATSON Ben (GBR)
Championship overall: MXGP1. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED) p.8332. CAIROLI Antonio (ITA) p.7383. DESALLE Clement (BEL) p.619
4. GAJSER Tim (SLO) p.5915. FEBVRE Romain (FRA) p.5446. PAULIN Gautier (FRA) p.514 MX21. PRADO GARCIA Jorge (SPA) p.7732. JONASS Pauls (LAT) p.7493. KJER OLSEN Thomas (DEN) p.5934.WATSON Ben (GBR) p.551
5. COVINGTON Thomas (USA) p.5256. VLAANDEREN Calvin (RSA) p.483