Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre pulled himself back into contention in his defence of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship title with his third podium in a row in the British round of the series at Foxhills Moto Parc.
The Frenchman immediately slotted into fourth in the long run to turn two in the first moto; the front-four were so fast that they had dropped the remainder of the field by more than twenty seconds by half-distance but such was the pace that none could make a pass until four laps from the end when the rider in third finally succumbed to the pressure from Febvre. The Kawasaki rider then closed down second but ran out of time to mount an attack and had to be satisfied with third at the finish. The second moto was even more tense as Febvre again gated fourth but was third within half a lap and engaged in a titanic chase as the leading trio matched each other’s tempo. At twenty minutes he started to apply the pressure and reaped the reward as the rider ahead was forced into a mistake. Continuing to lap faster than his rivals he was in the wheeltracks of the leader through the closing stages and went into the final lap less than a second back but there was no way through and he had to be satisfied with second in moto and overall. With the points-leader experiencing a difficult GP and the Frenchman claiming fifty-one points over the weekend he has nearly halved the gap to the red plate heading into the final seven rounds of the series.
Romain Febvre: “I’m feeling good at moment and we are building every weekend. The track was a little different each day; yesterday the dirt was deeper but it packed hard today so it was good for the race. The starts are coming now so I can run at the front with the other guys from the word go; there were some options for different lines today but it was still difficult to pass because we had similar speed. I still didn’t take a moto on race day yet but I’m trying to stay consistent, I’m feeling strong phyiscally, I’m getting closer to the win every week and I’m excited for the next races as I really like both Loket and Lommel.”
It was a traumatic day for his KRT teammate Pauls Jonass who experienced a frustrating first moto and an even more unfortunate race two. The Latvian moved into the top-six through the first few turns of race one but was desperately unlucky when a rider ahead of him dislodged a tuff-bloc directly into his rut on the second lap and the resultant fall demoted him to twenty-second. With three laps remaining momentum had taken him to within sight of the top-ten until he clipped the rear wheel of the rider who eventually finished tenth in a rut and fell again. Seventeenth at the finish was a meagre reward for such speed and effort. A superb opening lap in race two saw him quickly move from outside the top-ten to seventh and he was looking at further advances until a heavy crash at the bottom of a long steep descent left him needing on-track medical assistance. He retains tenth in the series standings.
Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager): “It was a big crash for Pauls It is never nice to see these things, but it is better than we feared initially; now we need further checks during the coming days and then he needs to rest. We will be taking it day-by-day before we make any decisions for the next races. On the positive side Romain was so strong and solid – both his riding and the starts – all weekend, and it was really good for the championship.”
Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki’s wild card entry Taylor Hammal rode an outstanding first MXGP moto. Gating thirteenth, amongst the GP regulars, he remained calm and error-free, his lap times hardly fluctuating from start-to-finish; he even held tenth for a while before a more experienced rival eased past halfway round the final lap. But eleventh was still an impressive performance. Unfortunately he was eliminated on the opening lap of race two in an incident with others.
The first FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship moto was a heartbreak for DRT Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers. A midfield start saw him eighteenth at the first timing split but was already eleventh after one lap and had advanced to ninth before the bike ground to a halt and cost him another top-ten finish. Determined to rebound in race two the Dutchman gated just inside the top-ten and even held seventh for three laps after an aggressive first half lap. He maintained eighth for a quarter-of-an-hour before an incident cost four positions, but he fought back to regain tenth four laps later and hold it until he was pushed back to eleventh on the penultimate lap. He is now eleventh in the series standings.
