Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre consolidated his FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship silver medal ambitions with his ninth podium of the series at Afyonkarahisar in Turkey, and was joined in the top-five of the GP by KRT teammate Pauls Jonass.
The Frenchman rode a startling first two turns in race one to emerge fourth but then faced a frustrating next twenty-seven minutes as he searched for a way round the rider in third around the ultra-fast raceway which offered few opportunities to pass. With five laps remaining he finally found the opportunity to pass and immediately made third secure though the front-two had long escaped. There was an intense scenario of bar-banging out of the gate at the start of race two which left the Kawasaki leader initially seventh but by lap three he had pushed forward to fourth and next lap he rounded KRT teammate Jonass for third in the turn at the end of pit straight. There followed a tense arms-length chase with his rival for second in the series standings which the Kawasaki leader eventually made clear to his benefit ten minutes from the end of the race to confirm third overall on the day and establish a forty-point puffer in the battle for the championship silver medal as the series heads into the final two rounds.
Romain Febvre: “I feel that if I could start at the front I could battle for the win, but with the starts I got again here I’m happy to be third. The other fastest guys are starting 1-2 every week and I am in the pack, so I have no chance to catch them; by the time I get to third they are gone. I needed to work hard to come back every time; you can pass the slower guys but it gets really hard to pass anybody who is near your speed. The start is so important, especially here, and the results do not show what I can do. On the positive side it was a good day for the championship.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass surged his KX450-SR impressively from gate nine to sweep through the first turn of race one seventh and pushed forward to sixth within half-a-lap but then had a lonely ride to the finish. An even stronger start in race two saw him initially fourth; he advanced to third on lap three before teammate Febvre came past a lap later and maintained a solid fifth to the finish. This secured fifth overall on the day and consolidated his tenth place in the series standings.
Pauls Jonass: “It was a good Sunday with my third top-five of the year; the speed was already good yesterday but the crash cost me a better result. Today I took two good starts; we still have some work to do to stay with the front four. I was happy with my riding this weekend and it would be nice to carry this on through the last two GPs.”
