Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre claimed his fifth podium of the season in the eleventh round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at the Terra Topia MX track on the outskirts of Johannesburg in South Africa.
A good jump at the gate and a tight line through turn one in race one saw him emerge third. An immaculate pass for second was unfortunately negated before the end of the opening lap as a knock to his knee pushed back temporarily to fourth. He was forcing the pace again after ten minutes and the pressure paid dividends on lap six as he swept back to third. With the front-three matching even each other’s lap times there was a tense high-speed chase to the flag as the top-three in the world confirmed their current rankings. A similar start in race two saw the Frenchman push into third halfway round the first lap and a stunning move after ten minutes saw him cut under his rival for second. That position appeared secure until he fell to a surprise attack at the twenty-minute stage. His brace of third-placed motos secured third overall and has further consolidated third in the series standings, thirty-nine points clear of fourth.
Romain Febvre: “I felt fast all weekend – the speed was there and also the starts – and had hoped for better but I hurt my knee on the first lap of race one and had a lot of pain for most of the moto. I took a good start again in the second race and was managing Jeffrey behind me for more than twenty minutes. I am getting there step-by-step, closer to the front two every week, and the three of us are gone from the pack. I could always hold their race pace and I have been working on my one-lap speed these last few weeks.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass raced to his best result of the season in the first moto as he swept through the centre of turn one and rode an attacking first couple of turns to complete the opening lap fifth. After a decisive defence against the chasers through the early laps he was already making the position his own when a faller handed him fifth and by mid-moto he was already a secure fourth behind Febvre and the other main title-chasers. The Latvian didn’t get quite such a good jump in race two but soon settled in eighth until an aggressive move on lap seven knocked him back to fifteenth before he could be remount but he responded admirably to salvage thirteenth at the chequered flag. He remains tenth in the series standings and has closed significantly on eighth.
Pauls Jonass: “I’m riding really well but the final result was frustrating. The pace wasn’t quite there in the first laps of race two and that’s when you end up in a situation like the one with Fernandez; it was a big knock and it took me a while to get going again as I was quite confused for a few seconds. This week we managed two good motos, but we need to put three solid races together.”
DRT Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers confirmed his tenth place in the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship standings with solid rides to eleventh in each moto. The Dutch youngster posted good starts in each moto, holding ninth for the first two laps of race one before being pushed back to his eventual eleventh at half-distance. An even better start in race two saw him eighth, amongst the factory bikes, for ten minutes before he had to settle for eleventh again.
Kay Karssemakers: “My starts were OK and there were some positives this weekend but my riding could have been better. Now we head back to Europe and we will work to be closer to the top-eight again. There are some nice GPs coming up with the team’s home GP at Foxhills and sand GPs in Lommel and Arnhem.”
Photocredits – Full Spectrum Media
