Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre fought back to sixth from a first lap collision in Qualifying for the Finnish round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at the Litti-KymiRing
After posting the fastest lap in Timed Practice the Frenchman was closed down entering the first turn in the Qualifying race after choosing the inside gate. Leave the opening S-turns seventh he was keen to waste no time in chasing down the leaders but fell in a collision halfway round the opening lap and had to renew his chase from eighteenth position. He made it back into the the top-ten in lap six of thirteen and two laps later was seventh before a long chase to close down the ten-second gap to sixth. He made the pass on the penultimate lap but ran out of time to make a move for fifth. Despite the setback he still leads the series standings by twenty-seven points.
Romain Febvre: “I got a good jump out of the gate but they closed me down on the run to turn one, and then I crashed with Coldenhoff halfway round the lap. It’s never easy when you crash on the first lap and it took me a long time to restart so I was almost last. The track was much rougher in Qualifying than it had been this morning; that can make the difference when it continues to develop because it is much easier to pass when it’s bumpy.”
In Qualifying for the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin raced to fifth place. After posting fifth-fastest time in Timed Practice he rounded turn one eighth and soon settled into a strong pace as he pushed forward to sixth on the opening lap. On lap eight of thirteen he moved into fifth and continued to push to the chequered flag, finishing in the wheel tracks of the series points-leader and just a couple of seconds from third.
Mathis Valin: “I had a really bad start in the Qualifying race but I found a good rhythm to catch back to the front guys and had a good battle with the red-plate holder. It’s a new track for everyone and was really fast this morning but it was quite bumpy already by Qualifying so it should be good for the GP motos; I just need a better start tomorrow.”
