The Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP completed their successful preparation for next weekend’s opening round of the FIM World Motocross Championship with a two-moto victory for Romain Febvre at Lierop in The Netherlands. Pauls Jonass showed tremendous spirit and speed to join his teammate on the podium.
The initial plan was for Febvre to race at Sommières this weekend in the team’s final preparation for next weekend’s GP opener in Argentina but inclement weather in southern France caused a last-minute cancellation of that event. The highly-motivated KRT crew responded admirably, switching arrangements for the Frenchman to join teammate Jonass one thousand kilometers away in the opening race of the Dutch motocross season at the iconic Lierop sand track, for many years a host to world championship racing.
The KRT duo, with Jonass narrowly ahead of Febvre, raced more than ten seconds clear of the opposition in the first moto until the Latvian fell in the waves at half-distance and his French teammate, too close to avoid hitting his bike, also went down. Febvre rejoined the race with a narrow lead and immediately raced clear again at the rate of two seconds per lap to claim his first moto victory of the season by seventeen seconds. Jonass remounted a distant third until a further slip on the penultimate lap saw him finish fourth. Febvre took the holeshot in race two and enjoyed a thrilling race-long duel with local sand expert Glenn Coldenhoff which saw them out-distance the rest of the field by five seconds per lap; the Frenchman completed his two-moto sweep at such a high pace that he eventually lapped to sixth place. Jonass was unfortunate at the start as he tangled with another rider and had to charge through from the back of the forty-rider pack. Posting identical lap times to the leaders he advanced to fourth by lap nine; third place was already twenty seconds away but the Latvian showed his fighting spirit and dug deep through the remaining six laps to claim third in moto and overall on the day with a last lap pass. A consequential decision had already been made earlier in the week for KRT teenage talent Mathis Valin to sit out racing this weekend prior to the strenuous trip to South America for his MX2 GP debut in the wake of his two victorious warm-up races earlier this month.
Romain Febvre: « When Sommières was cancelled we had to change our plan; my thanks to the team who had to cross France through heavy traffic yesterday to be on time at Lierop! They also had to work on the settings of the bike as Sommières would have been hard-pack and Lierop is a sandy track! I haven’t practiced in the sand during the last two weeks, but I wanted to do another race before the first MXGP so I was happy to be here. I didn’t take any risks during the timed practice session; in fact I simply rode as many laps as possible to find the good flow in the sand. In the first moto I got a good start in the top four, and I was second behind Pauls when he crashed in the waves section; his bike landed in front of me and I couldn’t avoid a crash! Luckily there was a good gap to Coldenhoff and I could re-start still in the lead to win that moto. In the second race I got the holeshot; Coldenhoff was close behind me during most to the race but I again won the moto. I’m happy to have finally won races after podiums in Hawkstone and Lacapelle. I had a great feeling and felt comfortable today; I feel ready for Argentina.”
Pauls Jonass: “The results could have been better but the riding and feeling were both good so I can take many positives to Argentina. Unfortunately I crashed in the waves in the first race when I was leading, and another rider collided with me at the start of race two. I didn’t even crash, but his handlebars were stuck in my rear wheel so I was last to leave turn one. I found a really good flow and had good speed to come back to third. I’m ready now as we head to Argentina.”
Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager): “We had a hectic trip yesterday even to be here but it was worth it. We didn’t expect so much traffic; it was midnight before we made it back to the workshop and we were on the road again at 6am to come here to Lierop. The track was good, the weather was fine and both Romain and Pauls rode well. Romain’s starts and riding were very strong and he took no unnecessary risks in this final pre-season race. Pauls was also riding really well. In the first moto he was leading until he crashed in the waves; Romain was so close that he crashed into Pauls’ bike but luckily we escaped with no injuries. Pauls is also coming strong when we consider he was off the bike for so many months, and when he puts the pieces together he can look forward to a good GP season. Mathis focused on training this week and he will train again tomorrow before we fly to Argentina on Wednesday. We had three good race as preparation for the GPs and we are ready for the world championship. Finally, my thanks to the complete team; it is always intense work and long days at these pre-season races and all of the staff have been fantastic.”
