Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre extended his lead in the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship points standings with second place in Qualifying for the Spanish round of the series at Lugo in the north-western province of Galicia.
The Frenchman had dominated both practice sessions in the dry but the riders faced different conditions as light rain fell on a polished surface for Qualifying. He quickly converted a third-placed start into second but then faced a long chase as the rider with the holeshot resisted stubbornly for eighteen minutes before Febvre’s delicate throttle control and drifting skills finally found the gap, putting the power down early out of a slick turn to surge inside for the lead. A second Qualifying victory of the current campaign appeared secure but a simple fall on the penultimate lap cost him victory. However second place was sufficient for the red plate holder to extend his lead at the head of the championship points standings to thirty-four points headed into tomorrow’s GP motos.
Romain Febvre: “I had everything in my own hands with one-and-a-half laps to go; I made the pass and I had a good lead but I just lost it in a small turn and threw it away. The track was really sketchy with lots of sharp acceleration bumps and for Qualifying it also got quite slippery; this morning you could square off the corners and change lines but it was not so open after the rain. It was easy to make a mistake and I did.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass continues to progress and completed a Green 1-2 in Timed Practice, just two-tenths of a second behind Febvre. The Latvian rode a tight line through turn one of Qualifying to hold an early sixth place. Unfortunately the roll-offs on his goggles were damaged from the roost of the rider immediately ahead of him early in the race; he was soon forced to discard his goggles but defended bravely, only surrendering one position during the remainder of the race to finish seventh.
Pauls Jonass: “I felt good on the track all day, even with the rain, but unfortunately on the second or third lap of Qualifying I got quite a lot of roost from the guy in front and the film of my roll-offs snapped. I tried to clean the lens with my finger but in the end I had to throw away my goggles. A stop in the goggle lane would have cost too many places with everyone running so close so it was just a matter of survival; you can’t attack without goggles so I just had to protect my position. I think the track can take quite a lot of water but hopefully they will rip it a little this evening so it will be more technical tomorrow.”
On his first visit to the track Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin needed time to get acquainted with the ultra-fast track and could only earn eighteenth choice of start-gate for FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship Qualifying but an electrifying start on the KX250-SR saw him hold an initial fourth place in the twenty-minute-plus-two-lap race before gradually slipping back to fourteenth at the finish.
Mathis Valin: “It was not the best day for me and I need to improve on tracks like this. My start was really good from the outside and I tried to follow the rhythm of the front guys but I struggled to match their pace. Today was just a day to forget.”
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media
