Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre played a captain role as France qualified second for the 77th FIM Motocross of Nations – the world team championship – at Matterley Basin in southern England.
The thirty-two year old, making his fifth career appearance in the world team event this weekend, has led the Tricolor to victory on each of his four previous appearances for his country. Fully aware of the responsibility to secure a solid base for the team in Qualifying for the premier MXGP class – the first of three races to decide which teams will contest the main event on Sunday – he secured a solid fourth-placed start and settled down to the error-free ride which would take the pressure off his teammates in the later races as the best two team scores from three are the deciding factor. He patiently maintained his placing and was in the perfect position to take over third when the rider immediately ahead of him made a mistake on the final lap. His performance relieved the pressure on his teammates who could then ensure second (and twenty-second) choice of start-gate for their nation in each of the three motos which will decide the destiny of the Peter Chamberlain Trophy tomorrow.
Romain Febvre: “The result was OK for today, but the feeling with the track was a little tricky. They put a lot of new dirt on top this year so it was really soft, particularly on the jumps, so I was a bit too careful. But the result to qualify well was the most important thing today and I feel I can be faster tomorrow.”
Febvre’s KRT colleague Jeremy Seewer was in a similar position for Switzerland. Bad luck in the ballot for start-gate positions in Qualifying left the alpine state chasing all day but Seewer also displayed admirable maturity to push forward tenaciously out of the pack to finish tenth and also relieve the pressure on his compatriots as the nation qualified twelfth.
Jeremy Seewer: “We had second-last gate-pick today from the ballot so I did well to finish tenth; I wasn’t there at the start and they were gone; the track was so gnarly today with the ruts on the landings off the jumps. The gate-pick will be better tomorrow so we’re going to be fine.”
Veteran home rider Tommy Searle, who last raced at world championship level five years ago, unselfishly accepted the MXGP ride for the host nation and also put in a considered ride to push forward from nineteenth to fifteenth on his Dirt Store Kawasaki. With this he secured the base for his younger teammates to push so that Britain qualified fourth in the Nations classification.
Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Benjamin Garib put in a solid performance to finish fifteenth in MX2 Qualifying for Chile, but neither of his countrymen could add a score to take the South Americans directly to tomorrow’s main program. Argentinian KX450 rider Joaquin Poli secured the best individual performance for FIM Latin America but they too failed to make the cut in the team classification. Both teams will now contest tomorrow morning’s B final, which will decide the final transfer to the main program.
Benjamin Garib: “It was hard work from the outside gate-pick we got in the ballot. I had a good jump and I was very happy with my riding; I did what I could and ended up with a top-fifteen so now we will see what is possible in B final.”
Photocredits Full Spectrum Media
