Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin raced to a dominant victory in Qualifying for the French round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Lacapelle-Marival.
The French teenager had already impressed during training as he topped Free Practice by half-a-second and was only narrowly edged out in Timed Practice, and he left no doubt that he was after his first victory of the season at GP level with a secure holeshot in Qualifying. Edged out of the lead halfway round the opening lap he responded quickly next time round to retake the lead and, the only rider to dip below 1-41 lap times, was soon five seconds clear to control the race to the chequered flag.
Mathis Valin: “A good start makes all the difference. The club did such a good job with the track even though it has been so hot the last few days. The track is really technical so it was easy to make mistakes but I could push during the early laps to make a gap. It’s been a while since I have been in front so I got a little arm pump mid-moto but I could control the race to the finish.The atmosphere was crazy as always at the French GP; the fans were there cheering me on and making so much noise, it was great! Now let’s do it again tomorrow!”
Qualifying in FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship was more frustrating for both Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP riders as Romain Febvre raced to fifth and Pauls Jonass to tenth. The Frenchman was restricted to ninth-fastest in Timed Practice and the subsequent gate-pick saw him pushed wide at the first turn with a mountain to climb on a track which had developed deep firm ruts by the end of the afternoon in the glorious sunshine. Ninth through the opening lap he moved up one position courtesy of a faller on lap two but needed a further five laps to finally find a way past an obstructive rival. Once past into seventh he could rapidly close down the riders ahead on a clear track and in the final quarter of the race made two more decisive passes to finish fifth. His six-point championship haul and his final pass of the race were both significant in the championship as, although still fifth, he has closed to within nine points of third.
Romain Febvre: “It was not so easy make the difference in the first part of the Qualifying race, then it became more bumpy and I could make the difference in the last sector of the track. I had a better feeling in the Qualifying race as the ground had been really soft with deep lines for the practice sessions. My start was not so good from the ninth gate; I was OK in the straight line but I had no place to turn so I was ninth or tenth after the first corner. I came back with good lap times but I lost time behind Fernandez and Adamo; for sure tomorrow can be better for the start as I will have gate five instead of nine.”
Pauls Jonass posted sixth-fastest time in Timed Practice but lost drive in the run down to turn one in Qualifying as his gate rivals closed him down and the Latvian needed a clever inside switch at turn one to come out tenth. He spent most of the race ninth before losing one position on the final lap.
Pauls Jonass: “Timed Practice was good with some quick laps but I didn’t get the best of starts in Qualifying. I still came out of turn one OK; I got armpump quite quickly so it was difficult to keep the pace but the speed is there and tomorrow’s a new day. The track is a little tight on a 450 but it’s really technical and the crew did a good job all day; it was hot today so the ruts got harder by the end of the day and that made it really tricky.”
Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia took advantage of a break in the European Championship schedule to make his MX2 GP debut and the EMX250 points-leader immediately made his presence felt. Ninth in Timed Practice the Spaniard shot out of the gate sixth in Qualifying and proved he was not over-awed by the occasion as he pushed forward into fifth on lap two. Despite constant pressure from a series of current season GP moto winners he maintained a top-six ranking for eighteen minutes and was still a solid eighth at the chequered flag. Bud teammate Jake Cannon also impressed with a strong ride from fifteenth to twelfth in what was also the Australian’s first experience of GP racing. DRT Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers made another excellent start to race top-ten for half of the Qualifying race and eventually come home eleventh.
