Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre finished fourth in Qualifying for the Turkish round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Afyonkarahisar in the Anatolian interior.
The Frenchman, third-fastest during Timed Practice, posted the fastest lap in the Qualifying race but was a frustrated fourth throughout around the ultra-rapid raceway which offered few opportunities to pass. The rocky surface, more than one thousand meters about sea level, also presented a painful roost when close behind a rival so it was decisive to hold back at times before making a run. Febvre proved that he had the speed with the fastest lap of the race and attempted mid-race and again in the closing laps to launch a pass, only to be denied.
Romain Febvre: “I can be the fastest but more is not possible if I don’t make the start; if you start on the front you don’t have to be the fastest to win or even be second. We just need to hope for a good start tomorrow. The track was good to ride and you can pass if you get everything right but it’s not easy; I was faster in some places and I had a plan to pass Gajser in the last two laps but each time I made a small mistake two corners before and lost the direct contact.”
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass, a previous winner at the track, also had the speed but had to race through from a fall on the first lap when he touched a rival’s rear wheel. The incident fired up the Latvian and he made a spirited recovery; by lap four he had disposed of the back runners and set his sights on the top-ten. With three laps remaining he was eleventh and, running significantly faster than those directly ahead of him, soared past into his eventual ninth, and two championship points, on the penultimate lap.
Pauls Jonass: “I was quite well-placed going into the second corner but I touched the rear wheel of another rider and crashed. I fought back to ninth in the end and my pace was good but I just need to stay up on the first lap; I think I can run up front with a a good start tomorrow. There are only a few places around the track with a couple of options and even there you need to calculate where and how you can make it happen.”
Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia, who had already wrapped up the title in the European EMX250 Motocross Championship two weeks previously, arrived at the season finale looking to confirm his dominance before moving up to the World MX2 Championship next year with KRT, and the Spanish teenager did just that in the first moto of the weekend by racing to his sixteenth victory from twenty-one starts this season. He converted a third-placed start to second within half-a-lap and dived under the initial leader on lap two to race clear for another decisive win, five seconds clear of his teammate Jake Cannon at the chequered flag in the sixth Bud Kawasaki 1-2 moto finish of the series.
Francisco Garcia: “Today I was able to really enjoy myself on the bike. It’s been a long time since I felt so good but I had some good training for the last week and again feel more like I did before my injury. The track was pretty flat this morning so I didn’t push for pole; I knew I had th speed to win this afternoon.”
Jake Cannon soon settled into his rhythm to post second-fastest time in Timed Practice and rounded turn one second in the first moto before losing out to Bud teammate Garcia halfway round the opening lap. Looking to follow the champion through into second with an outside sweep on lap two he left himself open to a challenge from behind and was pushed temporarily back to fourth. The Australian teenager stayed cool, moved back into third at the twenty-minute stage and maintained his charge to sweep into second with three laps remaining to complete a moto 1-2 for Bud Kawasaki and secure the points he needed to clinch the series bronze medal before tomorrow’s final moto of the campaign.
Jake Cannon: “I was happy with this one; I’ve made sure of the bronze medal but I want to round out the season on a high. The track layout is cool and challenging but it’s a little one-line, so it’s difficult to pass, and the roost hurts. That made the first half of the race challenging; I was trying a few different lines that weren’t so great and got shuffled back to fourth but I made my way back to P2 at the finish.”
