For anyone who believes in karma, maybe, just maybe this 31-year-old veteran of the sport, Jeffrey Herlings is getting some good karma, after having more bad karma than anyone in the sports history. Multiple times the guy who should have won world titles but didn’t due to silly injuries.

Bavo Swijgers images

Now, as he prepares for his home Grand Prix in Arnhem, The Netherlands, he starts to think more and more about that sixth world title. A championship that would place him as the third greatest GP rider of all time.

Back in 2014 in the middle of his MX2 domination, Herlings had won 11 rounds of the 12 rounds (he missed Brazil due to injury), and his points lead, again over Tixier before Sweden was 115 points. He left Sweden with another 1-1 results, and the lead grew to 135 points. Soon after though, injury got in the way when he crashed at an international event in Belgium (racing a minibike) and he lost the championship due to injury.

Second year in a row in Sweden, he led going into the Uddevalla round and the points lead was 100 points over Tim Gajser, with Herlings suffering a second moto DNF and injury to his hand (he already had an injured collarbone from the previous GP in Germany). Gajser went 2-1 for the GP win, the lead dropped to 423 for Herlings and 345 for Gajser. Herlings would miss the following GP at Latvia but crash out of the Czech GP and injury his hip, also ending his season.

Now, as we sit in 2026, and with four rounds remaining, the points lead is 116 points and Herlings is a lot wiser than that young kid who battled to finish off championships. 31 years old and probably the wisest guy in the paddock.

Last weekend at the Uddevalla circuit, Herlings went 1-1-1, was quickest in all the sessions and quite honestly, was in a world of his own. To say he was happy would be an understatement and his joy was shown when crossed the finish line and celebrated with his HRC team.

“Yes, I am super pumped,” Herlings said. “I feel like I am really good again and feel really good with the bike and on tracks like this. You know, all my career I have struggled with my starts, and it seems like my starts got clearly better in the last races. I mean in qualification and moto one, Tom (Vialle) and I were both first and second and the last moto, my jump was not the best, but I turned in third and managed to pass in the first lap and then got a comfortable lead. The last moto was a bit sketchy with the sun moving quite low. So, I just did enough pace to try and win. This weekend went really well, we topped every session, led every lap and won all three races. Also looking forward to the home GP next weekend.

The getting hurt part is clearly in Herlings mind, but the way he is racing at the moment, with such domination, it’s hard to see an injury stop him. He is out of the start better than ever and gone. Not allowing anyone near him and on his Honda machine, looks smoother than ever before.

“I am sure, I can only lose the championship by getting hurt. I mean, if I lose 30 points a weekend, so outside the top five or top ten every moto. It is technical sport and you can break the bike, but having such a big points gap, with only four GPs to go, only injury can stop me. I am not going to change anything, and I am going to keep doing what I am doing. If you start to think about it and race different and not be aggressive, then the risk of injury will only get bigger. When I am up front and doing my own thing, the risk is smaller than being at the back. I always say, if God wants me to win, I will win anyway. We will take it race by race, but the championship is nearly done, just four or five weeks and its done.”

What impresses most people is the way he is riding and, in my opinion, I am 100% sure, we haven’t seen a smoother Jeffrey Herlings. Working with the best team in the paddock makes the job a lot easier and you have to wonder if Herlings and Honda would have won more title, had they linked up years ago.

“We made a huge step since the beginning of the year with the bike. We were really struggling and I didn’t have the best rhythm in the sand yet, but the team and I worked really extremely hard to get that better and now we have some different parts on the bike, that really helped me in the sand. You could already see in Lommel, I was kind of back to my old form. I want to go to Arnhem and try and win, but I am not going to take crazy risks. A win is what we are aiming for.”

As for improvement, despite his current domination, Herling still believes there is improvement on the bike, but he also knows that at 31, there is only one way to go and the old saying of age is undefeated is rightly so, in his mind.

“I am still learning and with the bike, don’t get me wrong, we really had to go through a lot of steps to get it where we are now and we are still in the first year on the bike and once you get to a level this like, then you have to restart when you get a new model every three or four years, depending on the brand. There is still a lot of potential and a lot of things coming in the winter. The bike is already in a good place and all my career I wasn’t a great starter and now I am still not a great started, but I have really improved on that. The start is about the weight and the performance of the bike. We all have our technique, but at our level, everyone knows how to start.”

With tough seasons in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, there is no doubt, many wondered if the man we often called the fastest man on the planet, lost some of his status, but 2026 has seen that return and even before the Lucas Coenen injury, Herlings was showing signs of his old self. Now, with a 116 points lead, you just know that a confident Herlings, is very, very hard to beat.

“I feel really good and have a lot of confidence in myself. I don’t line up and think I can win, but I know I can win and the last years of my careers, I have doubted that a bit. Now I am physically really strong. I have times in my career that I had different motivations. Now I just do it for passion. Winning is nice, but to improve yourself and show you are still capable of beating the top guys. I am getting 32 next year and I have been doing this for 17 years and I was winning GPs 17 years ago and still doing it now. I don’t see myself getting better as the one today. I will most likely go backwards instead of forward. If you look at Romain, he is two or three years older and he is still on the top level, so I think age is just a number. At some point we all have to go down a bit. I hope for the next three or four years, I can fight for the title.”

With only Arnhem, Turkey, China and Australia remaining, it seems likely Herlings will wrap up the championship in Turkey, and that sixth world motocross championship will be reward for the hardest working motocross rider in the world, as he joins Joel Robert as a six time world champion. Its been a long time coming.