Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre edged closer to the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship series pace-setter with his fifth podium of the year at Lugo in Galicia, the north-western province of Spain.
The Frenchman made an excellent getaway in the first moto to keep the leader in sight throughout the race for second and confidently joined his KRT teammate Jeremy Seewer in a Kawasaki 1-2 holeshot in the first attempt to start moto two, only to be brought back to the grid at the end of lap one as the race was red-flagged after a couple of gates had not fallen cleanly. On the re-start he again started well in fourth. Surrendering a position temporarily mid-race, he quickly regained fourth to secure his fifth GP podium of the season from six starts and edge a point closer to the series pace-setter as he retains third in a tight points-chase and heads to his home GP at St Jean D’Angely, just over an hour north of Bordeaux, next weekend.
Romain Febvre: “I took a good start in the first moto to stay three seconds behind Jorge for many laps and see what he was doing. I thought I had something for him but then I made a couple of mistakes and settled for second. I had a pretty good first few laps in race two but then I lost my rhythm a little to finish fourth. The track was really tricky and it was easy to make mistakes so we had decided together with the team that the goal for the weekend was to stay safe because there were already some big crashes yesterday; this is only the sixth round and there is a long way to go so I’m really pleased to finish on the podium again. I feel I am close to the victory. It’s always a big fight every moto between Jeremy, me and the others in the top-six so I just need to put everything together; a combination of starts, strategy, aggression when it is necessary and not making mistakes. Next weekend is my home GP so let’s go for it!”
Jeremy Seewer made it two Kawasakis in the top-six, continuing to move closer to the podium as he becomes ever-more acquainted with his KX450-SR in his first season in Green. The Swiss converted a seventh-placed start in race one to fifth mid-moto with a couple of impressive passes and two hours later took a clear holeshot in the first attempt to start race two, only to endure the heartbreak of having to do it all again as the race was red-flagged after a couple of gates had not fallen cleanly. Sixth through turn one on the re-run he surrendered a position to the hard-charging eventual runner-up on lap three but maintained his resolve to regain sixth three laps from the end. 5-6 motos earnt sixth overall on the day and he retains that ranking in the series points-standings.
Jeremy Seewer: “This weekend was positive in many ways but also a little frustrating. It seems like there are five or six of us up there at the moment and the gap to the front is not far; the big gap is behind us. I had the speed today, particularly in the second moto, and I have the fitness but I am just missing the intensity in the first few laps. It was a shame for me that they had to red-flag the second moto at the first attempt as I had the holeshot; I got everything right and I feel I would have holeshot even if every gate had fallen clean. I stayed calm and my start on the re-run was also good but it’s hard to repeat such a perfect start every time. Of course that was frustrating but that’s how it is. We stay positive and we go next weekend to St Jean. It’s one of my favourite tracks ands I have good memories from there; I finished second there two years ago so I go with good vibes.”
The Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team duo of Jack Chambers and Bobby Bruce each showed good pace but could not convert their speed into top-ten placings as minor incidents cost them in both motos for the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship. Chambers posted good laps to advance from twentieth to fourteenth in race one but a fall on the first lap of race two left him trailing the field by nearly minute and the young American had to be content with twenty-third at the finish after a gruelling chase. Bruce held a steady fifteenth for several laps in race one and was even more impressive as he pushrd forward to thirteenth in race two, holding that position for six laps before losing a couple of places in the closing stages of the race to finish sixteenth. Chambers is now fourteenth in the series standings and rookie Bruce twenty-fourth.
Words by Kawasaki EU – Images by Haudik57
