Motocross racer Jeffrey Herlings has equaled Belgian Stefan Everts’ record number of GP wins. The five-time world champion from Oploo won the Grand Prix of Portugal in the MXGP and that was victory number 101 in his career.
Herlings, 28, finished third on the red sands of Agueda in the first moto, but he won the second heat with force majeure. He scored 45 points, 3 more than Frenchman Romain Febvre, who finished second in the first moto and third in the second.
Spain’s World Cup leader Jorge Prado was the fastest in the first heat, but he only finished sixth in the second race and ended up in third place overall.
Herlings missed all of last season due to a heel injury. He celebrated his comeback in March with second place in the Grand Prix of Patagonia-Argentina. At the end of March he then won the Grand Prix of Sardinia. That was his 100th win.
Thirteen years ago began the streak of success for the gifted motocross racer, who could have claimed many more victories if he hadn’t been injured so often.
His first GP victory was in 2010 at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands in Valkenswaard. In the following years he won the world title in MX2 three times and twice the title in MXGP, the premier class of motocross.