Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre advanced to second in the series standings of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship after the fourteenth round at Lommel in Belgium.
The Frenchman quickly moved into the first six in the first moto but then faced a frustrating next six laps as he sought a way past an obstructive rival, several attempts just coming up short. By the time he could make fifth his own there was a six-second gap to fourth, but, posting faster laps than anybody other than the runaway leader, he closed the gap to dive past on lap eleven and immediately set his sights on third. With four laps remaining he had the moto podium in his reach, but had to settle for fourth at the chequered flag after a couple of attempts to pass were repelled. The second moto saw the Kawasaki leader take his best start of recent weeks; third through turn one he was second after a few turns and immediately put his head down, posting a succession of sub-two minute laps to break away from his chasers at three seconds a lap so that he had a comfortable cushion of nearly ten seconds by lap four. The gap to third fluctuated back-and-forth until a poor lap four laps from the end led to suspense in the closing stages. With just over a lap to go Febvre suffered a horrifying crash at the end of the waves in which his chaser could only narrowly avoid running over him. Febvre bravely remounted and still had a secure lead of a quarter-of-a-minute over fourth, an advantage he maintained until a couple of hundred metres from the chequered flag when the bike ground to a halt and a frustrated Febvre was powerless as he was relegated to thirteenth in the moto result. Despite this misfortune he has now advanced to second in the series standings with five GPs remaining.
Romain Febvre: “Finally I got a good start again in the second moto and I found a good rhythm but I had used so much energy both on Saturday and in the first moto to come back through the pack. Two laps from the end I hit a soft spot in the waves and went over the bars; it was a big crash but I’m OK. The feeling right now could not be worse; the rest were so far behind and I had given everything for the podium until the bike stopped in the last half lap.”
Febvre was the sole KRT rider at Lommel when teammate Pauls Jonass realised during midweek trials that he had not yet recovered sufficiently from his crash at the British GP two weeks ago to contest the toughest race on the calendar. Despite his absence the Latvian remains tenth in the series standings.
Pauls Jonass: “Unfortunately, I won’t be racing in Lommel this weekend. I tried riding this week, but my body still needs a bit more time to recover after my crash at Foxhill. Thanks for all the support.”
Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Jake Cannon faced a difficult weekend in the European EMX250 Motocross Championship. After a DNF in Saturday’s first moto following two falls the Australian teenager rocketed out of the gate amongst the top-ten in Sunday morning’s second moto. He inevitably had to surrender several places to the local sand experts during the early laps but was rewarded for his persistence to recover to eighth at one stage before a couple of late falls saw him eleventh at the finish. He stays third in the series standings and can look forward confidently to the next round of the series in two weeks’ time in Sweden as the 2025 event was one of his best performances of the season.
Championship leader Francisco Garcia sat out this round of the series as a precaution after sustaining a minor injury to his left leg during training during the week; the Spanish teenager and the Bud Racing Kawasaki team felt it advisable for him to recuperate rather than risk aggravating the injury by racing at Lommel; both team and rider are confident that he will return to action fully-fit at the next round in Sweden in two weeks’ time to defend his seventy-four points lead with just three rounds of the series remaining. Kawasaki retains a handsome lead of forty-two points over the closest rival in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
