Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre missed the podium on the tie-break in the Swedish round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Uddevalla after a first moto third.
The Frenchman took the holeshot award in race one but two others, one of them KRT teammate Jeremy Seewer, slipped inside on the exit of the turn. A rapidly drying track meant passing opportunities were minimal and positions remained close but unchanged amongst the first-five until two risky thrusts by the championship leaders on lap five put him temporarily back to fifth. Within a lap he regained fourth and with ten minutes remaining he surged round his teammate for third to chase home the title rivals to the chequered flag. He was less fortunate at the start of race two to emerge outside the first-ten from turn one. A workmanlike ride saw him move relentlessly forward with a series of fine passes to eventually reach fourth; together with his first moto third he just missed the podium on the second-moto tie-break but has moved back to sixth in the series standings.
Romain Febvre: ” I had a really good start in the first race; I lost two positions but I stayed with the leading group so I was happy with my pace. My start in the second race wasn’t good and I was thirteenth at the second corner; on a track like this one that’s a real problem! At the same time Prado, Gajser and Herlings were in front from the start so I knew that the best I could expect was a fourth, and that’s what I achieved. I’m happy with that, but of course for the podium result it was not quite enough. I had to ride the second half of the race without the visor on my helmet as I took two big rocks when I was behind Vlaanderen; luckily they didn’t hit my goggles but particularly on the finish jump it was not easy to see with the low sun in my eyes.”
Jeremy Seewer showed excellent speed to take over the lead in the first moto on lap four with a clever combination through successive turns and the Swiss maintained a secure two-second advantage until lap twelve when he was literally pushed back to third. Still unsettled by the incident he was also passed by teammate Febvre on the following lap before regaining his composure to finish fourth. From eighth on the opening lap of race two he needed a couple of laps to settle, going backwards to tenth before coming back strongly for eighth during the second half of the moto. His efforts earnt sixth overall and he remains fifth in the points standings.
Jeremy Seewer: “The real Jeremy Seewer was back for the first twenty minutes of race one with good pace after a good start but I have not been used to racing at that pace this year so eventually I lost my rhythm and started fighting the bike. It’s been a tough season so at least I was happy to show that my skills and potential are still there. I had another great start in race two but I just didn’t “go” in the first few laps. I don’t know why; I just felt strange already on the sighting lap. I came back to eighth and if I had had the ride of my life I could have been P6 but if you are in pack here it’s so hard to come back; it would have been a lot of risks for those two points and I prefered to stay safe. But I keep the positives from those first twenty minutes of race one and keep looking forward.”
Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team’s Jack Chambers had two solid rides in the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship races to come away with twelfth overall. The American moved forward in race one from a first-lap fourteenth to hold down eleventh until he bogged in a turn on lap 15 and had to accept twelfth at the finish. A similar race on the second moto saw him fourteenth for twenty minutes before he was able to make a pass for his eventual thirteenth. He stays fifteenth in the series standings. His Bike It teammate Bobby Bruce withdrew from racing in MXGP after landing painfully on his shoulder during Saturday Qualifying.
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media
