Romain Febvre qualifies third in Portugal
Words and images courtesy of Kawasaki Press Racing
Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre overcame a couple of incidents to finish third in Qualifying for the Portuguese round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Agueda.
The Frenchman had been outstanding in dry conditions during practice. He topped Free Practice and missed first gate-pick in Timed Practice by just one-twentieth of a second. Then a series of heavy rain showers turned the track into a quagmire for Qualifying.
The success of the recent KRT programme of testing on bike set-up for the starts was evident. Febvre stormed to the holeshot, but the joy was nullified five turns later as the berm, soft and unpredictable in the conditions, broke away. He fell and remounted ninth. Undeterred by the incident he had already regained three positions by the end of the opening lap. He was fourth next time round and, setting the fastest laps of the race, homed in on the front-three. Using a decisive inside pass on lap five, he took over third.
The roost from the riders ahead was making vision ever more difficult. There was more drama on the penultimate lap when the rider in second lost control on a descent. The Kawasaki rider, unable to switch his line on the greasy downhill surface, could not avoid a collision. As he remounted, the rider previously in fourth could sneak past to finish third.
Romain Febvre:
“The track was really good for practice this morning but after the rain came it was under water for Qualifying. I took the holeshot but half a lap later I was on the ground; I couldn’t understand what happened as my front wheel just went over the berm and I was in the mud. I could come back quickly to third but then with two laps to go Jeffrey crashed on a blind downhill The yellow flags came out just as I arrived so I could only see him at the last moment; there was no way to miss him and I crashed too but luckily I could keep third. But it was a scary one!”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass returned to race action for the first time since his heavy crash during practice at round three of the series on Sardinia. He was progressing in each track session to post eighth-fastest time, just three-quarters of a second from provisional pole, in Timed Practice. The Latvian also took a good start in Qualifying to emerge fifth at the first split. However, two falls in the difficult condition pushed him back to fifteenth.
Pauls Jonass:
“Overall I felt good on the bike all day with good speed in practice and I was in a good position in the first laps of Qualifying. But then I just started to make mistakes; I was overthinking, trying not to crash, riding too careful and ended up going off the track a couple of times. There are days like this, but I’m looking forward to turning it around tomorrow.”
Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin made a solid return to racing in Qualifying for the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship round. He had sat out the previous three rounds because of wrist ligament injury sustained in March.
The French teenager eased back with fourteenth-fastest time in Timed Practice before sweeping through turn one inside the top-ten in Qualifying. He soon established himself in a solid sixth place. A small mistake on lap nine of twelve cost two positions when he got cross-rutted and was launched into the trackside banking. He had to surrender two further positions on the last lap as he lost his grip on the handlebars because of the greasy mud on his gloves.
Mathis Valin:
“The track was really flat and fast for the practice sessions so it was better for me on my return to racing when the rains came and there were some big ruts. I had a good start from the outside in Qualifying and was sixth with good speed but then I had a small crash and lost a couple of positions. Towards the end I was struggling with mud on my gloves so I kept losing my grip on the handlebars and I eventually finished tenth. But that’s OK for the gate-pick and tomorrow is more important.”
Team Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia maintained his title challenge in the European EMX250 Motocross Championship with a solid ride to third in the first moto of the weekend.
After setting the fastest lap in Free Practice the Spaniard qualified third in Timed Practice on a dry surface. Then it rained heavily to turn the track into a quagmire for racing. There was added drama at the start gate as his starting device failed to engage. However, he coolly held a tight line at turn one to emerge seventh.
With visibility at a minimum in the muddy conditions he rode a cool race to regularly advance up the leaderboard. He took over his eventual third place on lap nine of fourteen to strengthen his second place in the series standings. He is now just seven points behind the series leader.
Bud teammate Jake Cannon scorched through turn one to take the holeshot. But his race was soon over. He slithered to the ground at the sweeping turn two and, gloves and controls covered in slimy mud, had no alternative but to pull out of the race.
Bike It Kawasaki’s Bobby Bruce had been highly impressive in the morning to post second-fastest time in Timed Training. He ran third for five laps of the moto until a heavy crash left him badly winded, and the English youngster also had to withdraw for the day.