The Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP will line-up its full squad this weekend for the sixteenth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship at Uddevalla in Sweden as Pauls Jonass will be back racing alongside MXGP World Championship leader Romain Febvre and Mathis Valin in MX2.
It was a patient wait as neither Pauls nor KRT team manager Antti Pyrhönen wanted the rider to return to the ultra-competitive world of MXGP until he was completely ready to race at the highest level again. “For us it was very important to wait until Pauls was 100% healthy before coming back racing. He has recovered well from the injury; he did strong work, strong rehab and strong training, and last week immediately finished on the podium in his first race back. Things are definitively moving in the right direction and he is ready to go racing in Sweden; it’s great to welcome Pauls back at the GPs. It was unfortunate that he was injured at the MXGP of Germany, just at the moment when he was performing well and finding his best form. That was unfortunate but Pauls is a strong and determined rider, and also an athlete who is always working hard. We are very happy and we aim for a very strong end-of-season with him,” said Antti, who has a great racing background himself and knows how to manage such a situation
Although he has been riding his bike in practice sessions for several weeks, while his colleagues were racing several rounds of the MXGP series, Pauls returned last weekend for his first racing appearance since the crash in Germany. He entered the famous sand race of Balen-Keiheuvel, where many GP riders were also racing, and it was a good event for the team as Romain Febvre shared top honours with his main rival this season (a win and a second position for each rider) while Pauls joined them on the podium with a third overall. « I’m really exciting to finally come back racing the GPs; I had really good training the last few weeks and it’s a good time to be racing again. Last weekend I did my first race for several weeks at Balen, and it went pretty well in the deep sands of Keiheuvel. The feeling with the bike and with my body is good, the shoulder is feeling fine again and now I’m so excited to be back racing MXGP and hopefully deliver some good results in the coming weeks,” admitted Pauls who, together with his teammates, will discover a revised track layout at Uddevalla.
Photocredits – Pascal Haudiquert
