World championship points leader Jeffrey Herlings wowed a crowd of around 8000 to win both motos in the Dutch Masters championship opener at Markelo in Holland on Sunday, beating challenges from Husky team-mates Gautier Paulin and Max Anstie.

Paulin was second both times out with Anstie right behind him. Former world champ Romain Febvre was fourth in both motos for fourth overall, one spot in front of Shaun Simpson.

Defending champion Thomas Kjer Olsen from Denmark did not have it all his own way in the MX2 class. He easily won the opener but had to push hard to beat Australian Jed Beaton in race two. Beaten was second overall from local hero Davy Pootjes. South African HRC star Calvin Vlaanderen was the only rider to get near Kjer Olsen in the first race. But second time out the Honda man went down in the first turn and retired.

Martin Barr was seventh overall but Ben Watson only took 13th.

Dutchman Raivo Dankers took the win in the opening 125 race, but technical problems caused him to drop out in the second moto. The win went to German Rene Hofer.  In the 85cc class, Kay Karssemakers was the fastest in both motos, ahead of Kay de Wolf and Scott Smulders. Fourth overall was Belgian Liam Everts, son of ten-times world champ Stefan. Liam’s best was third in the first moto.

The second round of the Dutch Masters of Motocross will be held on April 2 in Oldebroek.

MXGP Overall

1             84                          Jeffrey Herlings  50           25           25

2             21                          Gautier Paulin    44           22           22

3             99                          Max Anstie          40           20           20

4             461                       Romain Febvre   36           18           18

5             24                          Shaun Simpson  31           15           16

6             259                       Glenn Coldenhoff            31           16           15

7             22                          Kevin Strijbos     27           14           13

8             41                          Filip Bengtsson  25           13           12

9             94                          Sven van der Mierden     22           12           10

10           141                       Maxime Desprey              21           10           11

11           107                       Lars van Berkel  16           7             9

12           777                       Evgeny Bobryshev            14           –              14

13           92                          Tom Mackus       12           4             8

14           329                       Luca Nijenhuis    12           5             7

15           45                          Mike Gijsbertsen              12           6             6

MX2 overall

1             119                       Thomas Kjer Olsen           50           25           25

2             14                          Jed Beaton          40           18           22

3             46                          Davy Pootjes      35           15           20

4             193                       Jago Geerts         35           20           15

5             18                          Vsevolod Brylyakov         30           12           18

6             70                          Ruben Fernandez-Garcia               29           16           13

7             150                       Martin Barr         22           10           12

8             10                          Calvin Vlaanderen            22           22           –

9             56                          Marshal Weltin  21           7             14

10           39                          Roan van de Moosdijk    20           9             11

11           34                          Micha-Boy de Waal         17           1             16

12           403                       Bastiaan Boegh Damm   15           6             9

13           919                       Ben Watson        15           14           1

14           132                       Karel Kutsar        13           3             10

15           11                          Mikkel Haarup   13           13           –