Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre scored his first FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship moto win since the mid-season injury which dented his title ambitions on his way to second overall in the penultimate round of the series at Shanghai in China.
Due to the impending arrival of Typhoon Bebinca the GP, initially intended to run Sunday-Monday as a highlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday weekend, the schedule was amended to a one-day affair with grid positions decided during a Timed Practice session rather than by a Qualifying race, and the GP motos were run on a tight time-schedule with just one hour between motos in each class. A short rain shower as the riders lined-up for the first moto did not develop further and track conditions were perfect for racing. Febvre was quickly on the move from a fifth-placed start in the first moto. A series of decisive passes saw the Frenchman take over the lead with an immaculate move on lap eleven and he immediately raced clear at a second-per-lap before rolling it back to claim an overwhelming victory by just under six seconds. He quickly took over fourth place on the opening lap of race two but then faced a frustrating eight laps as he was denied at every turn by the rival directly ahead of him riding an aggressively defensive line. When he eventually burst past for third he was already fifteen seconds behind the leaders with no realistic chance of closing them down. The third-placed moto earnt his eighth podium of the season with second overall on the day and he has consolidated his fifth place in the series standings heading to the final round in Spain in two week’s time.
Romain Febvre: “I took a decent start around fifth in the first moto and I was clearly faster than the others so I could pass everyone to take the lead and make a gap for the win. It’s really tough out there for everyone with the humidity – the same like Indonesia – and there was just a short break and less time to recover before race two. It was a good solution to complete the GP before the tornado arrived; we all had to manage as well as possible but I don’t think we would want to do it regularly. I know others were struggling in the heat and it’s a shock for the body but everybody has to deal with it; I never seem to have a bad time in hot conditions. I didn’t get a good jump in race two but I rode a good first few turns to come out top-five again. I used a lot of energy to pass Fernandez for third and I had already given a lot in race one because I wanted that moto win so much; I was faster but had to fight hard to pass him and the leaders were gone by the time I came third so I had to settle for that position and second overall.”
KRT teammate Jeremy Seewer took his KX450-SR to his sixth holeshot of the season in the first race; he had already surrendered the lead on the opening lap but he maintained his top-three placing for five laps until Febvre moved past. He was pushing again as he endeavoured to follow his teammate back up the leaderboard until a minor problem proved costly and he fell back to an eventual tenth. Taking another lightening getaway from mid-gate in moto two he rounded turn one in the top-four but the rider immediately ahead of him lost control and fell, dragging down the Swiss. Having taken a heavy knock to his right shoulder he sought off-track safety and could not rejoin the race. He retains fourth in the series standings, thirty-three points clear of teammate Febvre.
Jeremy Seewer: “The day started so well with the holeshot and some good laps in race one, but then we had a small problem and I just had to survive. I kept myself hydrated and felt fit and ready for race two despite the tight schedule. I was looking at another top-three start but I just got unlucky when the guy directly in front of me tried too much. Hopefully I should be fine; we’ll see in a few days.”
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