Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre finished a close runner-up in Qualifying for the fourth round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Riola Sardo in the sand dunes of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
The Frenchman earnt fourth-choice of start gate for the Qualifying race in a tightly-contested Timed Practice and launched decisively out of the gate to take the holeshot and lead for just over a lap until the leading Dutch sand expert slipped past. The Kawasaki leader remained unruffled and maintained the pressure throughout the race to finish a close second. His nine-point championship haul sees him advance to fifth in the series standings.
Romain Febvre: “I had some really good lines so I could close the gap to Jeffrey several times but I couldn’t quite make the pass. We have made a few changes to the settings so I felt really good out there. Now we are starting well again and I could take the holeshot so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass showed good speed in practice to earn seventh gate-pick for Qualifying and made it two Kawasakis in the first-six through the first half of the race before being pushed back to twelfth through the closing laps as he lost his rhythm.
Pauls Jonass: “Practice went well, I got a good start in Qualifying and the first laps were OK but then I was just struggling and in the end I dropped back. I need to get my confidence back and race two good 30+2 motos tomorrow.”
Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin shrugged off a painful shoulder from a training crash ten days previously to finish sixth in Qualifying for the fourth round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship. The French teenager paced himself well on the demanding sandy track to maintain his lap times throughout the moto; indeed he was the fastest man on the track at the twenty-minute stage as he closed down the riders ahead and had third in his sights at the finish. He stays seventh in the series standings heading into Sunday’s two GP motos.
Mathis Valin: “It was tough today. I haven’t been able to ride for ten days but I had a good start; when I took the inside line at turn two several riders were able to go outside to pass me. But after that I found my flow and have P6 at the gate for tomorrow. The track is really tough and so deep; directly you make a mistake on a 250 you lose one-and-a-half seconds.”
DRT Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers recorded his career-best Qualifying result. The Dutchman again started top-ten and advanced to seventh during the closing stages of the race.
Kay Karssemakers: “A great start to the weekend! P7 is my best Qualifying result ever so I’m really happy. I got a good jump at the start, then I hit with another rider and lost some momentum but I was able to go inside at the first turn and come out top-ten. I was in a group from third back to me, then two guys crashed and I went seventh. I lost the group when I got a little arm-pump mid-race but I found my flow again to hold off the riders behind. Now I’m looking for two good starts tomorrow and hope I can fight to the end.”
Even a mid-race fall could not prevent Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia extending his unbeaten run to five consecutive moto victories in the European EMX250 Motocross Championship. The Spaniard underlined his dominance of the series already in Timed Practice when he secured pole with a time more than a second faster than his closest rival. He was squeezed off the start but rode a tight line through turn one to emerge twelfth and was soon making moves up the leaderboard. By the end of the first lap he was already fourth before, displaying outstanding speed along the rugged sandy straights, he relentlessly closed down the leaders. By lap nine he was on the rear wheel of the race-long leader before tucking the front wheel in a loose turn to drop back temporarily to third, thirteen seconds off the pacesetter. He quickly settled back into his usual rhythm and two laps later leapt into the lead to win by seven seconds. He now leads the championship standings by thirty-seven points clear of Bud teammate Jake Cannon in second and a further twenty ahead of third, while Kawasaki has also extended the lead in the Manufacturers’ standings to thirty-seven points.
Francisco Garcia: “That makes it five-out-of-five for me this year; it’s easy to say but it’s not easy to achieve and honestly it was a difficult moto. I didn’t make the best start but I was riding well. I just made one mistake when I came to the leader the first time; I couldn’t see the rut after I had used all of my tear-offs, but I stayed calm and refocused to come back for the win.”
Jake Cannon needed time to settle in the deep sand in the morning to go to the gate twenty-fifth but made a top-ten start from the outside in the moto and, showing his physical strength and raw speed, pushed to the finish to take the chequered flag sixth, thus confirming his second place in the series standings, twenty points ahead of third.
