HERLINGS AND MCLELLAN BRING THE MAGIC AT THE ORIENTAL BEAUTY VALLEY MXGP OF CHINA!

SHANGHAI (China), 13th September 2026 – Although it was not as hot as last year in the Magic City of Shanghai for the Oriental Beauty Valley MXGP of China, the eighteenth round of the 2026 FIM World Motocross Championships was still set in humid conditions that made it tough for the riders fighting for glory at the Shanghai International Off-Road Circuit!

Dazzling entertainment as well as cooling mist from the high-tech grandstands kept the excited fans in attendance hooked to the action all day long, and the riders responded with some fantastic racing around this venue for the second year in a row.

In MXGP, it was the new World Champion who continued his domination, as Jeffrey Herlings took another clean sweep of every single race and practice session on the way to his twelfth GP win of the season for Honda HRC Petronas.  He was chased all the way home by Romain Febvre, who looked as close as he has done all season to beating Herlings, but had to settle for second overall for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.  Herlings’ teammate Tom Vialle took third overall for his fourth straight podium result in succession.

The MX2 World Championship had the possibility of being decided during today’s GP, but the rider who was most likely to keep it alive did exactly what he had to do, which was win the Grand Prix overall!  Camden McLellan put together a determined charge to take his fourth GP victory for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, making his teammate Guillem Farres wait another week to try and claim the title, even though the Spaniard made it a fourth 1-2 for the team with a second race win earning him second overall.  Third place went to Liam Everts, who made it four podium finishes in a row for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.

The MX2 class in particular delivered some exhilarating action, with the final results in doubt right up to the final corner in both races!  The thousands of Chinese fans got into the racing and made themselves heard, and no doubt left the venue happy to have enjoyed such a spectacle!

Main Photo: Jeffrey Herlings; Top Photo: MXGP Start Shanghai

With much attention falling towards the streak of Jeffrey Herlings, of being top of the time sheets over the last 35 consecutive races and practice sessions combined before today, the morning Warm-up had the feel of a Time Practice session, as Romain Febvre took up the challenge of halting “The Bullet” in at least one aspect of his dominance!  In the end, Herlings prevailed with his seventh and final lap to go over a second clear of the Frenchman, with the TEM JP253 KTM of Jan Pancar in third, nearly three seconds back!

Tom Vialle showed his usual starting prowess to claim the Fox Holeshot Award in race one, his tenth of the season, although Herlings was right on his case after muscling ahead of Febvre down the start straight! Pancar was behind the Kawasaki into the second corner, but then Febvre made a mistake through the third corner that put him back to fifth!

As that was happening, Herlings had leapt to the inside of Vialle to take the lead from his teammate, and set the Acerbis Fastest Lap of the weekend as he tried to bolt away from the pack on lap two! Febvre did all he could to undo his error, passing Jeremy Seewer on the Venrooy KTM, then Pancar, then the lone Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Andrea Adamo, to get back to third by the end of the first full lap. 

Seewer was looking racy as he got past the factory KTM to claim fourth, as Pancar slipped back to seventh behind the second Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP man Pauls Jonass.  Behind them, Calvin Vlaanderen held eighth for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team ahead of KTM Australia’s Dylan Walsh and the MRT Racing Team Beta of Jago Geerts.

Adamo got a right-handed corner wrong on lap two and dropped the bike, putting himself back to tenth in front of Brian Hsu, who was making history in racing the first Chinese machine ever to compete in MXGP!  The German was to take 11-12 on the day for twelfth overall on his 350cc JHL Factory Racing machine!

Geerts passed Walsh at about the same time to claim eighth, which he held to the flag ahead of Adamo, who got back past the British-born New Zealander on lap nine.

While Herlings built his lead over the two chasing Frenchmen, Seewer was a lonely fourth while Pancar hunted down Jonass, passing the Latvian for fifth on lap ten!  A further lap later, and suddenly the Swiss rider made a small mistake to drop to seventh behind Vlaanderen! This put Pancar into fourth, his best finish in MXGP for over a year! Jonass, Vlaanderen, and Seewer would stay in fifth to seventh positions.

On lap 14, Febvre put in an extra charge, and Vialle felt the pressure enough to run wide in a left-handed hairpin, giving his compatriot an easy pass into second place!  From there, Herlings managed his advantage until Febvre backed it off in the closing laps, leaving an eight-second gap between the leading pair at the finish.

It looked like Vialle had repeated his Holeshot for race two, but Herlings made a savage cut to dart across the Fox Holeshot Award line millimetres ahead of his teammate!  This puts the Honda HRC Petronas men just one award apart at the top of this year’s contest, with two more opportunities left to go! Behind them, Febvre was snapping at their heels from the outset, while Vlaanderen and Seewer went elbow-to-elbow for fourth until turn four, when the Ducati man forced the Swiss veteran to back off, allowing Adamo through into fifth, until he was passed by Pancar!

The Slovenian then clipped Vlaanderen’s back wheel in a left-hander, and went to ground!  Jonass took the opportunity to move into fifth ahead of Seewer as Adamo got held up by Pancar’s machine. Jan himself got up quickly enough to hold tenth behind Geerts and Walsh, and he passed the New Zealander on the following lap.

Febvre was onto the back wheel of Vialle, and the younger Frenchman landed slightly off-track on lap four, just about holding onto second while Herlings began to ease away slightly. On the same lap, Adamo managed to restore factory pride by passing Seewer for sixth and staying in the position of top KTM. Later on, Pancar surprised the Swiss rider with an inside line that led to a slight collision, but both men stayed up and Pancar had got to seventh, good enough to go one better than his Türkiye result and claim sixth overall, his best of the year!  Seewer’s eighth would leave him there overall behind Adamo, while Geerts and Walsh would take ninth and tenth in both race two and the overall verdict.

Febvre had managed to close in on Vialle by lap eight, and passed him on the inside in a left-handed corner, as Vialle then got it wrong over another jump and ran briefly off-track again, effectively ending his challenge for second. Vlaanderen and Jonass held station in fourth and fifth, giving them those positions overall as well. It was the Ducati man’s equal best result of the year, while Jonass has the chance of catching the absent Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Kay de Wolf for ninth in the Championship in the final round.

Talking about catching, Febvre did exactly that on Herlings in the final few laps, visibly pushing to end the Dutchman’s streak and finally get a Sunday win with that #1 plate!  He got the gap to just under a second as Herlings responded, but then the Frenchman got a jump all wrong and nearly went over the handlebars! Finally throwing in the towel, he settled for his 101st career podium instead. Vialle’s third overall put him one point ahead of Adamo in their battle for fourth in the Championship, as they have both passed the total of the absent Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Lucas Coenen. They are also battling for the position of top rookie in this year’s MXGP class.

Herlings has kept his streak going, now up to 38 sessions of practice and racing, as he registers his 124th career GP victory as well as his 235th race win.  The crazy numbers keep mounting up for “The Bullet” and there is still one more round to go!

Jeffrey Herlings: "Both races I had a bit of an issue with the humidity, with the sweating and the goggles fogging up. That is why I pulled away at the beginning and then I was struggling a bit. Normally I never have a problem with it, it is just because it is extremely humid here in China. I managed to do enough in both races, mainly the second one, to win. Romain rode really good, I think it is one of his best races all year. We had a very dominant performance with Honda HRC Petronas all year and we got out of the starts really, really good. They give me a good bike and they are working extremely hard, so it was a great weekend once again and I am looking forward to Australia."

Romain Febvre: "On the last lap I was not that far from Jeffrey, but after the wave in the middle we turned right into a small tabletop, and I cross-rutted on the take-off, took a kick and went sideways on the front. I did not make any mistake all weekend and that was the only one, so it was quite scary and I just held it to the finish. I did not change anything in my training, it is just the start. Today I was on the inside in second and I could cut the turn, and when you are with the guys at the front it is so much easier. I always performed good in hot conditions, so I felt good all weekend and I kept pushing until the end."

Tom Vialle: "I had a small crash in the warm up, nothing crazy. I bit my tongue pretty bad and opened it a little bit on the outside of my jaw, so I need to go to the hospital to put some stitches in. The first race was pretty good, I had a good flow. In the second one I only did 15 or 17 minutes and then I got just really empty, my body was really tired. I could not really eat today because of my tongue, so I felt a little bit tired and empty. It is still nice to be up here on the bo. We are going to try to recover this week and be a bit more fit for Australia, and we still have one more chance to beat Jeffrey."

     
1. Romain Febvre; 2. Tom Vialle

MXGP - Grand Prix Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 35:14.056; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:08.333; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:12.236; 4. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:54.302; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:57.142; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:01.128; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), +1:03.868; 8. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1:23.353; 9. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:47.688; 10. Dylan Walsh (NZL, KTM), +1:49.387.

MXGP - Grand Prix Race 2 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda); 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki); 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda); 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati); 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki); 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM); 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM); 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM); 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta); 10. Dylan Walsh (NZL, KTM).

MXGP Overall - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 50 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 44 p.; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), 40 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), 33 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), 32 p.; 6. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 32 p.; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), 27 p.; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), 25 p.; 10. Dylan Walsh (NZL, KTM), 22 p.

MXGP - World Championship - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 915 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 752 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), 659 p.; 4. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), 593 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 592 p.; 6. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), 523 p.; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), 449 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 428 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), 400 p.

MXGP - Manufacturers Classification: 1. Honda, 1003 points; 2. KTM, 848 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 781 p.; 4. Yamaha, 773 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 461 p.; 6. Ducati, 377 p.; 7. Fantic, 317 p.; 8. Beta, 222 p.; 9. Triumph, 155 p.; 10. JHL, 19 p.

Camden Mc Lellan

Although not many riders were pushing hard in the heat of the morning Warm-Up, Liam Everts set the top time in the session ahead of Camden McLellan, with Sacha Coenen third for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.

Still with an outside chance of the title before today, the other Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Simon Längenfelder gave himself the best chance of making up ground by claiming the Fox Holeshot Award in race one, with Coenen hot on his heels, and a nice move by Julius Mikula put the Osička KTM MX Team man into third through the second corner!  McLellan this time had out-started Guillem Farres, who was behind Everts in sixth.

However, Mikula got a jump badly wrong to crash halfway round the opening lap, and McLellan was nearly brought down as a result! Farres, already having got around Everts, moved up into third while Camden regained his balance, leaving just the KTMs in front of him!  McLellan recovered well to cut back past Everts before the end of the first full lap.

Kay Karssemakers, fresh from his career best result in Türkiye for Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki, had started well in fifth, ahead of wildcard teenager Byron Dennis on the KTM Australia machine. Karlis Reisulis was eighth early on for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, with the Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia of Maxime Grau in ninth ahead of the returning Ferruccio Zanchi for Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team.

Karlis dropped to eleventh on lap two, which is where he would stay, while his brother and teammate Janis Reisulis climbed up to ninth at around the same time. The Latvian put on the most passes in the first 20 minutes of the race, getting past Grau and Dennis in successive laps to get to seventh by lap seven. He would say there for that position to the finish, ahead of Dennis, Grau and Zanchi who completed the top ten.

Up front, the two Triumph men were line astern, but inching closer to the KTMs in front. The dam broke with ten minutes to go in the race, as Farres lunged to the inside of Coenen up the start straight to take second, and in the next corner McLellan went past the Belgian as well!  Although he fought back briefly, the South African made the move stick around the outside into the fourth corner on the track. 

Coenen seemed to suffer from there, as Everts got past his compatriot into fifth a lap later, where he would finish ahead of Karssemakers in sixth.  McLellan, though, was on a mission, and charged past Farres on the same piece of track as where he made the pass on Coenen, getting to second on lap 14! Two laps later, and he was on Längenfelder, finally carving to the inside of the German to take the lead with three laps to go! It was the charge of a man determined to take the title fight to the final round!

Just as McLellan had taken the lead, Farres spun to the ground on the final corner of lap 16, granting Everts an easy run to third. The Spaniard still picked it up ahead of Coenen, leaving the Belgian needing a miracle to stay in the title fight. McLellan’s sixth race win of the year, however, put him to within 45 points of the leader, meaning he would only need a top ten finish to keep things alive until Darwin.  He wanted much more out of race two than that, however!

Längenfelder swept from gate three to grab his second Fox Holeshot Award of the day, making it nine for the year, confirming himself in second behind Coenen for this year’s Fox Holeshot contest.

Farres was right there again, although the reigning Champ held back this year’s series leader in his initial charge, as Everts held onto third ahead of Janis Reisulis and Coenen, although McLellan got past the Belgian into turn four again on the opening lap!

Suddenly, Coenen crashed out of the race through the wave section, getting back on his battered machine only to ride it back to the Paddock.  From there, it was certain that one of the Triumph riders would be this year’s MX2 World Champion!

Just before the end of the first full lap, Farres’ early aggression paid off again as he squeezed the German against an advertising board on the outside of a corner, making the German back off the throttle and lose ground, which he would never recover.

McLellan was still fifth, with Karssemakers sixth, Karlis Reisulis seventh, Dennis eighth, and Mikula and Grau rounding out the top ten.  Camden got past Janis for fourth on lap three and set after Everts, although bizarrely Längenfelder started to gradually drop down the order, seemingly unable to put up much of a fight as both Everts and McLellan got past on lap seven, then Janis and Karssemakers on lap eight, finally falling behind Karlis Reisulis,  Dennis, Mikula, and Grau, before the Czech rider crashed out with three laps to go, leaving the #1 plate holder in ninth. A noise penalty for Grau put him down to tenth, promoting  Zanchi to ninth and Längenfelder a still disappointed eighth.

That left Grau tenth overall behind Zanchi and Karlis Reisulis. Dennis, having had the joy of passing the reigning World Champion on lap 12, took a fine seventh for that position overall!  This bodes well for his home GP to come!  Karlis Reisulis claimed sixth in race two behind Karssemakers, who matched his career best race finish of fifth from the weekend before, but this time he would have to settle for sixth overall behind Janis Reisulis, who took fourth in race two. Längenfelder’s bizarre slide left him off the podium in fourth overall.

Farres continued his controlling ride at the front, while McLellan went for a big push at the end! Ultimately Everts made a slight mistake on a corner, spinning sideways but just saving the crash. It was enough for the South African to get a free run on Farres, and he tore after his teammate!  It did get mighty close, and Everts went with him! Heading into the final corner, Everts nearly stole second from McLellan, but Farres held on by a second and a smidgeon, with Everts less than two seconds off the leader himself.

Although Camden took his fourth Grand Prix victory overall, giving Triumph their tenth of the season, fourth 1-2 finish, and eighth double podium, that second race win put Guillem Farres in the driver’s seat come the final round in Australia. He has a 48-point lead that even makes it possible to clinch the title in the Qualifying Race on Saturday! 

However, you never quite know what to expect from MX2, and for sure the final round will be a barn-burner if the title does get decided early!  Make sure you catch all the action from the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler, this coming weekend!  There will be thunder Down Under!

Camden McLellan: "The plan was to take it to Australia, not because I think I can win the championship, but because that would mean that I have done a good weekend, and I have. I am really happy with my riding and with the push, because I am far from 100 per cent. One good thing about not getting the best starts is that I get to figure out different lines as I make my way through the pack. The second race was a good example, I was sitting behind Liam and then in the last five minutes I tried to do a bit of a push. I tried to time it like in the first race, unfortunately I came up a little bit short."

Guillem Farres: "It is a difficult track for me, but it was okay. Yesterday I managed to win and having the first gate pick here is a big advantage. Unfortunately in the first race my start was terrible and it was difficult to pass, but I had a good pace. Before I crashed I was making a push to pass Simon, I lost the rear in the corner and Liam passed me, but I did not lose too much time. In the second race I got a better start and I really wanted to pass Simon to make my race and find my rhythm without taking a lot of risks. Once I was first I really wanted to win and I pushed for it."

Liam Everts: "It is always a bit of a hassle coming here, I almost ended my career here two years ago, so it is always a mentally difficult challenge. I struggled a bit yesterday, but today was better, straight away in the morning I felt really good. The first race was average in the beginning, but at the end I pulled through and ended up in third. In the second one I was behind Guillem most of the race, until I missed the braking point into the turn and Camden came around. It is really nice to leave here with a good feeling, and having my dad at the track was really important for me."

     
Guillem Farres; 2. Liam Everts

MX2 - Grand Prix Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), 34:10.515; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:01.575; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:01.982; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:16.578; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:20.696; 6. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:27.271; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:28.402; 8. Byron Dennis (AUS, KTM), +0:58.746; 9. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +1:07.035; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +1:12.143.

MX2 - Grand Prix Race 2 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 34:19.096; 2. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:01.038; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:01.979; 4. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:22.688; 5. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:33.503; 6. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:50.684; 7. Byron Dennis (AUS, KTM), +0:57.121; 8. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, KTM), +1:07.788; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +1:09.599; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +1:05.403.

MX2 Overall - Top 10 Classification: 1. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), 47 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 43 p.; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), 40 p.; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, KTM), 35 p.; 5. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 32 p.; 6. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), 31 p.; 7. Byron Dennis (AUS, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 25 p.; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), 23 p.; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), 23 p.

MX2 - World Championship Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 859 points; 2. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), 811 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 775 p.; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, KTM), 768 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), 742 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 644 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), 528 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), 414 p.; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 401 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), 353 p.

MX2 - Manufacturers Classification: 1. Triumph, 980 points; 2. KTM, 944 p.; 3. Husqvarna, 755 p.; 4. Yamaha, 700 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 548 p.; 6. Honda, 528 p.; 7. Ducati, 176 p.; 8. TM Moto, 87 p.; 9. GASGAS, 83 p.; 10. JHL, 13 p.

All the photos from the Oriental Beauty Valley MXGP of China will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

THE ORIENTAL BEAUTY VALLEY MXGP OF CHINA QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1680m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 28˚

Weather conditions: Sunny

Crowd Attendance: 40,000

LINKS

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