Perfect weekend for Romain Febvre in Sweden
Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre stamped his authority on the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Uddevalla in Sweden. He raced to three commanding victories, extending his series lead to forty-one points with four GPs remaining.
The Kawasaki leader and his KX450-SR pulled the first of two massive holeshots in race one. Romain Febvre momentarily surrendered the lead as lines converged at turn three. However, he was back in control and pulling a gap even before turn four. Within a couple of laps he had established a six-second cushion and was content to defend that gap. This allowed him to claim a clear but narrow victory as the gnarly rutted track claimed several victims in his wake.
With his title rival restricted to seventh, the Frenchman also extended his series lead to twenty-five points heading into race two. Another clear holeshot – his seventh of the season – laid the foundations for the perfect weekend. However, the Frenchman sensibly took care to defend a relatively small advantage of a couple of seconds. He did this rather than risk pushing beyond the limits as late afternoon shadows demanded caution.
Remaining cool after stalling the engine on lap eight had allowed the chasers onto his rear wheel. He calmly withstood the immediate pressure before edging clear again. With his championship rival again buried in the pack, it was imperative to avoid risks. When the local Swedish hero, enjoying the race of his life, threw caution to the wind through the last two laps, the Kawasaki leader sensibly held back from pushing over-the-top. Romain Febvre was rewarded with another victory when the over-enthusiastic local hero fell after momentarily taking the lead on the final lap.
Clinching his fifth GP victory and fifteenth podium of the season, the perfect weekend – his first of the season – has brought the Frenchman a thirty-two point turnaround in the championship battle over the weekend. This sees him take a forty-one point advantage into the final four GPs of the campaign.
Romain Febvre:
“We have been working even more on the starts and I took two holeshots today; it always makes life easier to have a clear track at the front. In the first moto Jeffrey was not far behind at the end but I wasn’t worried. The second moto was more stressful. I honestly didn’t know where Lucas was in the race but I think the top-five were within a couple of seconds so I didn’t want to risk any mistakes. Jeffrey was on my rear wheel most of the race but then the last couple of laps I noticed it was a Yamaha and, when I heard the crowd, I realised it was Isak. I knew for sure he would go for it on the last lap and he had a really good line where I didn’t expect him. I knew I would still be winning the GP and extending my lead in the championship but then he crashed a couple of turns later and handed it back to me. But I take my hat off to Isak; he was really going for it. I have been looking to make a perfect weekend all season and it all clicked here; it’s awesome to do it as the season enters the final stages. This was good for the championship but it’s not done until the last round so I must remain sharp until the end.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass moved forward strongly from eleventh to ninth during the first six laps of race one. However, a small mistake cost him three positions. The lack of recent GP racing experience saw him eventually drop back to fifteenth.
The Latvian made a remarkable recovery in race two. After catching the rear wheel of a rival halfway to the first corner in race two he nearly went down. Dead-last before reacting quickly to dive inside through the long sweeping turn to claim tenth by the end of the first lap. He maintained a solid pace throughout the race to take the chequered flag tenth. Rewarded with tenth overall.
Pauls Jonass:
“It was a tough return to the GPs. It’s never easy to come back from injury during the season and I just didn’t get the flow in either moto. I had a small tip-over and then several more mistakes in the first moto, but the second moto went a little better, just one small mistake mid-moto. But I needed to start somewhere; back to the drawing board now for a better result in Arnhem.”
Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager):
“Incredible! Romain did an amazing job this weekend and big respect to him to go 1-1-1. Everything in the team is running like clockwork and we have worked so hard to get eveything out of the bike at the starts. I am so proud of Romain and the entire team; now we must stay focused to the very end. I must admit it was a more difficult comeback than expected for Pauls; he still needs to get his race pace back; the race intensity at this level is so different to training.”