There is no doubt, nobody in the sports history set a place on fire as much as five time World motocross champion, Jeffrey Herlings and at Lierop in 2016, he delivered what can only be described as exhibition races on Sunday in front of his ecstatic home fans who turned out in numbers to see a display of riding that many will remember for years to come.

The 17-year-old said before the race that he wanted to win by a minute, already a mind-boggling margin by any rider's standards. But remarkably he not only did it, he did it twice and his ride in each moto was equally thrilling.Herlings made a stunning comeback from a crash in Saturday's qualifying to secure an impressive win for pole position.

He shot out of the gates on his KTM 250 SX-F and from that point on the numbers best tell the story in the opening moto. He was seven seconds ahead after the first lap, 13 after the second, then 25, 28, 33 and still he wasn't satisfied as he continually lapped riders.

When he finally shot over the finish he was 2:07 minutes ahead of second placed team-mate Jeremy van Horebeek.The second moto was no less thrilling. Herlings finished 2:04 in front of van Horebeek and had lapped all riders up to fourth. Factory team boss Stefan Everts remarked during a mid race interview. "He's an animal in the sand. He is the fastest rider on sand on the planet!"

Herlings was predictably happy with his day's work as he surged 65 points ahead of Tommy Searle, his only rival for the 2012 MX2 title.

"I came out today with a pole position and made two hole shots. The first moto was unbelievable. I just cruised my way to the finish, and lapped up until second, only my team-mate Jeremy stayed in the same lap so it was an awesome race. And in the second moto, I took the hole shot again and lapped up to fourth and I got the full 50 points. I've extended my points lead on Tommy so I really happy with that one."

No one was surprised that Red Bull KTM factory rider Tony Cairoli was the man on the top step of the podium in Lierop after delivering two stunning motos for another 1-1 victory.Caroli lined up for the first moto alongside teammates Ken de Dycker and Max Nagl after the three KTM riders emerged as 1-2-3 after Saturday's qualifying.

It was Nagl who seized the coveted holeshot and went on to dominate the first phase of the race. Then Cairoli put down the hammer on his KTM 350 SX-F and picked off riders until he was right on Nagl's tailpipe in the 13th lap.From that point on it was business as usual as Cairoli glided over the tricky sand course with little difficulty.

The race ended as it had started: Cairoli was in front by 8.5 seconds, second was Nagl and Ken de Dycker was third.The only difference in the second MX1 race of the day was that Cairoli got away cleanly in the opening phase and went on to win by 15.8 seconds.

The win in Lierop saw Cairoli nail his 52nd GP victory as he charges towards his sixth world title. He now has a 72-point lead in front of Clement Desalle and is looking forward to wrapping up the title in Faenza next weekend in front of his home fans.

"I'm really happy about my riding over all the weekend, it went just the way we had planned in the team. Faenza is not one of my favourite tracks, it's a pretty easy track for everybody so its important to get a good start, always to come out of the gate well and try to grab the hole shot, or at least be top three. It's an important race for me, especially the first moto. I want to close the championship, if it's possible."

MX1 Results 1. Tony Cairoli (KTM) 2. Ken de Dycker (KTM) 3. Tanel Leok (Suzuki) 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (Honda) 5. Shaun Simpson (Yamaha)

MX1 Championship Standings 1. Cairoli - 592 points 2. Clement Desalle - 516 3. Gautier Paulin - 468 4. Christophe Pourcel - 452 5. Ken de Dycker - 446

MX2 Results 1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 2. Jeremy van Horebeek (KTM) 3. Max Anstie (Honda) 4. Tommy Searle (Kawasaki) 5. Arnaud Tonus (Yamaha)

MX2 Championship Standings 1. Herlings - 622 points 2. Searle - 557 3. Van Horebeek - 519 4. Nicholls - 387 5. Joel Roelants - 367

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