No doubt about it, Grand Prix motocross isn’t a joke and when luck isn’t running your way, then it makes the job that much tougher. Even prior to arriving at the Teutschenthal circuit, Jeffrey Herlings talked about the bad times in Germany and what he wanted from the weekend. Unfortunately, he didn’t get his wish and the bad karma coming into Germany, revisited him.

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Herlings knows the German track well, and despite a handful of victories there, it has also cast a dark shadow over his career in the past. Injuries, crashes and drama have been a staple part of his ventures to Talkessel and 2026 kept that dark shadow following him.

“I definitely have had some bad times there,” Herlings said of the circuit. “So, I’d like to avoid anything crazy happening this year and just keep the riding at the same level that we’ve been at for the last few GPs. Starts have been critical and we’ve worked hard at them and also in the first few corners to get as close to the front as possible and giving myself the best chance of wins. Overall, I’ll be happy to leave Germany still in the championship battle.”

Arriving to the MXGP qualification race on Saturday, the goal was good starts and a lot of momentum. In what is proving to be an extremely difficult track to pass on, Herlings gave everything he could to try and get further forward in the qualification race, but in the end, he had to settle for fourth place, receiving the chequered flag just four seconds behind the winner.

“I knew this track would be tough to pass on and that the start would be extremely important. Unfortunately, I hit another rider right out of the gate, and I just had to do my best to come out with the leaders. Then it was a case of just trying to create an opening for a pass, but like last week it was impossible. The bad thing was that this week I was in fourth and no leading. Still, I know I can get good starts, so that is the focus and we’ll try to get on the box.”

The #84 did well to recover the situation and was still able to get into fourth place in the next few corners but with his championship rival directly in front of him, he knew it would be a tough race. Eating roost for the duration of the moto, he tried every line possible to make a pass but ended up having to be content with a fourth place and seven points in this close 2026 MXGP Championship battle.

Come Sunday and his experiences at this circuit didn’t improve. After a technical issue forced him to withdraw from race one, Herlings put in a strong race two, to keep himself within touching distance of the championship, in what was a tough day for the Dutchman.

Starts were critical all weekend and the #84 wasn’t able to get out of the gate in front of his main rivals, which made life a lot more difficult. The second moto showed he had the speed to win motos, but with hardly any places to pass, catching someone and passing them were two completely separate matters.

“Obviously not happy with today. I wanted to keep the pressure on in the championship battle and now I’ve dropped a lot of points today. Germany definitely hasn’t been my friend it seems in recent years, but we go again in Latvia next week and just keep pushing hard. Still, plenty of racing to go and I like Kegums a lot more than here.”

Now, onto Latvia this weekend, a circuit Herlings has been nearly unbeatable, with nine overall victories, it is the circuit he has the most win in his career (also nine at Valkenswaard). A 10th win on the white sand of Kegums would make that Latvian circuit experience, something very different to that of the previous weekends circuit.

"Obviously not a great weekend in Germany. Glad it’s done and we can move onto this weekend in Latvia which is a much better track for me. I know what it takes to win here but with the way these guys are riding, I know that this year will be especially tough to stand on top of the box. I need to make sure my starts are on point in Kegums, and I’m curious to see if they’ve done anything different to the track. Fair play to Teutschenthal because they tried new things, so we’ll see what it’s like there this weekend."

Having lost so many points last weekend, the Dutchman will be wanting to gain some type of advantage over series leader Lucas Coenen of the Red Bull KTM factory team. A victory will be minimum what Herlings will seek and some good luck on his side would also prove a confidence booster.