After two silver medals gained in the Dutch Masters of Motocross, Romain Febvre who was leading the FIM Motocross World Championship at the time, claimed the Dutch title at the Markelo event.
The traditional sand surface was not as soft as usual due to warm and sunny weather in the Netherlands making racing conditions at Markelo different for all competitors. Already winner of the two previous rounds at Harfsen and Oldebroek, the Kawasaki Racing Team rider secured his title during the first moto. Despite an early crash, Romain never gave up to come back second. With the number 1 plate on his bike Romain had a great battle in the second moto with sand expert Jeffrey Herlings, but the Frenchman didn’t take unnecessary risks as there were twelve more MXGP rounds at the calendar as part of his main focus.
This MX1 Dutch title is the third National achievement for Romain, after the French Elite MX2 (2011) and the MX2 Dutch series (2014). Runner up in 2023 and 2024 in the Netherlands, Romain confirmed his great form just a few days ahead of the French MXGP where his focus is on defending his red plate at Ernée.
Romain Febvre: “Dutch champion, it’s always nice to win a championship, especially the Dutch one which is a hard task. It’s been a couple of good races; the track was quite hard as the sand was not as soft as usual, it was sketchy in some places and I didn’t want to take any risks.
In the first moto I got the holeshot but lost the front in the second turn and crashed; I was almost last, came back second and caught the leader but it was not possible to make a pass. Second race in the first corner I was at the inside and it was a 180 degree turn, so it was quite difficult to maneuver; we did the entire moto together in front with Jeffrey (Herlings), but once more I didn’t take any risks. Now the entire focus is on the MXGP’s with many rounds one after the other.”
