The hot summer of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Champs continued at the weekend around the Loketske Serpentiny venue for the MXGP of Czech Republic, the 13th round of 19 in the series.
The traditional party atmosphere in this picture-perfect corner of Czechia was in full force, while the riders wrestled with a slick, hardpack surface that forced them all to be continually cautious with the throttle.
Taking control of the MXGP World Championship with his first perfect weekend of the 2026 season, Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings took the Honda HRC Petronas machine to his 119th career GP victory, and matched the records of Joel Smets, Stefan Everts, and Antonio Cairoli with his fourth win at Loket.
So yes, that is the top four GP riders of all-time, in terms of overall victories, at the top in the record books of Loket.
Herlings’ Honda HRC Petronas team-mate Tom Vialle made use of his brilliant starting prowess to notch up second overall, the Frenchman’s first podium since Trentino four months ago, while fellow Frenchman Romain Febvre fought hard for third overall, his fourth straight podium for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.
The MX2 class saw a fourth straight GP victory for Triumph Racing Factory Team rider Guillem Farres, although his run of consecutive race wins was halted at seven by a race two win for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Liam Everts.
The Belgian didn’t get to the podium, however, as South African Camden McLellan made it a 1-2 for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, and Latvian Karlis Reisulis climbed his first ever Grand Prix podium with third overall for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2.
Once again, the Loket circuit produced a world class test for the MXGP elite, and among the boisterous fans from all across Europe and beyond, the racing was of a similarly high standard, making it yet another classic MXGP of Czech Republic to enjoy again and again.
Herlings continued to mercilessly push his name to the top of every session of the weekend with another fastest lap in the morning Warm-Up, over two seconds faster than the next best, which was Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider Tim Gajser.
The Slovenian had his team-mate Maxime Renaux below him in the time charts as the Frenchman hoped to improve from his tenth in Saturday’s qualifying race.
There was a notable absence on the line today, in the shape of incoming red plate holder Lucas Coenen. Having dropped out of all of the races at Foxhills the previous weekend, and the qualifying race, the teenage Belgian finally made the decision with his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team to rest for the day and work towards being at full fitness in the future.
Whether that means he will try to race at his home GP next weekend is a question yet to be answered.
Vialle just out-dragged his team-mate Herlings into the first corner of race one to claim his sixth holeshot of the season.
Sole Red Bull KTM Factory Racing representative Andrea Adamo, who took his first career race victory at this circuit, ran third ahead of Fantic Factory Racing MXGP’s Belgian Brent van Doninck and the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul of Norwegian Kevin Horgmo.
Reigning world champion Febvre had work to do, but hustled to the inside of Van Doninck to take fourth by the end of the first full lap as Horgmo crashed down the order to 19th.
Gajser was holding sixth in front of his fellow Slovenian Jan Pancar, who is always strong here on his TEM JP253 KTM, then Kay de Wolf was eighth on his return for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.
Ruben Fernandez did not get the best start, down in ninth for Honda HRC Petronas as the MRT Racing Team Beta of Jago Geerts started inside the top 10.
On lap two, Herlings made an outside pass at the bottom of the steepest descent on the track to take the lead from Vialle, and proceeded to power away from the field, as De Wolf and Fernandez both got past Pancar.
Febvre started to make some ground after a few laps, relegating Adamo to fourth with a sharp pass on an uphill jump on lap five, and it took him another five laps to haul in and pass Vialle for second with a drag race from a slow corner up a long hill.
Meanwhile, Van Doninck held onto fifth until half distance, when Fernandez overtook him into the corner before pit lane.
Gajser had crashed while catching the Fantic man on lap five, and caught him again by lap 13, but with three laps to go he crashed through a choppy corner, allowing De Wolf and Van Doninck back through into sixth and seventh.
It was a season-best finish for the Belgian, as was eighth place for his countryman Geerts.
Isak Gifting also got past Gajser after his crash to claim ninth for JK Racing Yamaha, putting the ex-champ into tenth at the flag.
Up front, however, Herlings claimed his ninth race win of the year to take the championship lead, with Febvre and Vialle over 18 seconds behind, and Adamo taking a fine fourth ahead of Fernandez.
It looked like Vialle had taken yet another holeshot to equal Lucas Coenen’s total for the year in race two, but closer inspection revealed that Jeremy Seewer, who had retired early in race one, claimed that prize for Venrooy KTM Racing, his first one since Sardegna in April 2025.
Vialle soon restored normal order as he passed the Swiss rider on the first uphill, with Gajser and Herlings also moving ahead on the following few sections.
Fernandez and Pancar were also inside the top six, ahead of Renaux, who had suffered a heavy crash that put him out of race one.
Tom Koch was eighth initially for KTM Sarholz Racing Team, with local rider Jakub Teresak within the top 10 for HT Racing Group KTM, and Roan van de Moosdijk also in there for Kosak KTM Racing.
Herlings was in emphatic mood, and put together a solid pass through a right-left sequence of corners to get past Gajser for second on lap two, then pulled almost exactly the same move on Vialle to lead just a lap later.
Meanwhile, his team-mate Fernandez was working on Seewer, moving up to fourth on lap five. From there, the top four were set for the race.
Febvre had been caught in a pile-up with De Wolf and Gifting in the first corner, and then Van Doninck and Horgmo hit the floor together in turn two.
Adamo had also suffered a first lap crash and, although De Wolf retired from the race almost immediately, Febvre put in a stunning charge to reach the top 10 by lap five.
Quickly dispatching Koch and Van de Moosdijk two laps later, he then leaned on his countryman Renaux to take seventh by lap nine, and out-powered Pancar to take sixth on lap 10.
Former team-mate Seewer was the next to fall to the reigning champ’s charge, and he had done enough to prevent a Honda HRC Petronas podium sweep by putting himself into third overall, behind Herlings and Vialle, and ahead of Fernandez in the GP.
A tiring Seewer would lose positions to finish an eventual twelfth, as Renaux and Pancar took sixth and seventh.
Van de Moosdijk’s eighth was his best race of the campaign so far, and it put him ninth overall ahead of Gifting. Geerts made several passes from 15th on lap one to finish ninth, giving him a season best of seventh overall ahead of Pancar.
Adamo recovered to tenth in the race to claim sixth overall, and Gajser’s third made up for his troubled first race enough to put him in fifth for the day.
Herlings was again invincible, claiming his first perfect 1-1-1 of the year for his 119th career victory, including his 225th GP race win.
It moves him into a 49-point lead in the series over Coenen, with Febvre another 25 points behind the Belgian.
Will the teenager be able to return to action on quite possibly the most brutal circuit of the entire calendar?
That seems unlikely, but the rest will be back to take on the deep sand of Lommel, in Belgium, for round 14 next weekend.
Jeffrey Herlings: “Three starts in a row helped a lot, and racing Tom was clean, we’ve known each other long enough not to touch. The bike is incredible on this kind of track, it just sticks to the ground and lets me do what I want with it.
“But for me there’s only one thing that matters, and that’s the gold plate. White, black or red, it doesn’t change anything at the moment, so we keep fighting for that.”
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 35:20.291; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:18.310; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:23.914; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:24.771; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:40.610; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:52.820; 7. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Fantic), +0:54.449; 8. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +0:56.891; 9. Isak Gifting (SWE, Yamaha), +0:59.627; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +1:02.290.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 35:34.003; 2. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:10.910; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:12.298; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:36.219; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:49.879; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:58.757; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:02.775; 8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KTM), +1:05.588; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1:07.805; 10. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:12.673.
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 50 points; 2. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), 42; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 38; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), 34; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), 31; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 29; 7. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), 25; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 23; 9. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KTM), 23; 10. Isak Gifting (SWE, Yamaha), 19.
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 615 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 541; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), 489; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), 414; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 411; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), 408; 8. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), 367; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 292; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), 273.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 34:03.298; 2. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:10.705; 3. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:12.517; 4. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:13.808; 5. Simon Langenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:15.555; 6. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:29.162; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:36.237; 8. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +0:42.614; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:49.533; 10. Gyan Doensen (NED, KTM), +0:51.950.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), 33:57.774; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:06.000; 3. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:08.232; 4. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:10.540; 5. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:24.233; 6. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +0:47.842; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:54.803; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:59.452; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +1:08.814; 10. Gyan Doensen (NED, KTM), +1:15.477.
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 47 points; 2. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), 40; 3. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 38; 4. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 36; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), 34; 6. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), 28; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 28; 8. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 27; 9. Gyan Doensen (NED, KTM), 22; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), 21.
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 618 points; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 585; 3. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), 548; 4. Simon Langenfelder (GER, KTM), 547; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), 520; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 476; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 376; 8. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 352; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), 332; 10. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 283.