Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre strengthened his third-placed ranking in the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship standings after mounting the podium in the Latvian GP at Kegums.
The Frenchman secured second at the start of race one with a decisive drive past the pit box to turn two and held the placing comfortably for twenty minutes until he was pushed back to fourth in successive turns. After sweeping to his third holeshot of the season in race two the Kawasaki ace was relegated to third through the next few turns but could maintain the pace of the two riders ahead of him; moving back into second on lap eleven he slashed the deficit to the leader to less than a second in the closing stages before running out of time to mount a challenge for victory. 4-2 motos delivered third overall and he has consolidated his third place in the series standings, pulling back eighteen points to second over the weekend.
Romain Febvre: “It was a consistent weekend with decent starts. I was second for twenty minutes in the first moto but they were pushing hard behind me and were finding fresh lines so they were able take advantage when I made a couple of small mistakes and I had to be satisfied with fourth. I felt much better physically for race two and I could take the holeshot too; they passed me straight away on the first lap but I could run their pace. I even closed down Lucas with two laps to go but in the end I was satisfied to secure the podium and good points for the championship.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass enjoyed his best GP of the season in front of his home fans for fifth overall from two strong motos. The Latvian ran fifth through the first four laps before losing a position on lap four as he bogged momentarily in a loose left-hander and surrendered one more placing before the finish for a solid seventh. A clever switch on the run to the first corner in race two saw him emerge fourth and he held on strongly for a moto fifth to earn his best overall result of the season to date. The result also confirmed tenth in the series standings.
Pauls Jonass: “Not so bad; I felt good all weekend and this track is never easy but I think we did a good job as a team. We found good solutions on the suspension and even made some more good decisions for the second moto to make me even more comfortable. I came out good on the inside from the starts and made some good passes through the first few corners of race two to come out fourth. It was nice to see so many fans and I felt their love all day; it was nice to celebrate with my first top-five of the season.”
