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Romain Febvre's fond farewell
Romain Febvre rounded out his career with Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP with an emotional moto victory in the FIM Motocross of Nations at Ernée in his native France. The host team was out of luck, but KRT's Pauls Jonass led Latvia to fourth in the team classification, and Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki's Francisco Garcia earned a silver medal with Spain.
Febvre swept into second at Turn 4 of the opening MXGP/MX2 moto and, after three laps to settle into his accustomed rhythm on the KX™450SR, he hauled back the leader by a second per lap before exerting pressure to move ahead on Lap 6. His dominance was such that he took the checkered flag nearly 10 seconds clear after a jubilant final lap as he saluted the frenetic French public all around the track. It was the fourth Nations victory from five starts around the iconic Circuit Raymond Demy for the supremely proud Frenchman. Crashes by each of his teammates had already eliminated the French team as a candidate for the team podium when he went to the start for his second ride of the day in the closing MXGP/MX Open moto, but there was still personal pride to battle for, and he swept through Turn 1 majestically to take the holeshot award before line-choice errors pushed him back to third at the end of the first lap. Lapping significantly faster than the other leaderboard rider, he raced back to second and had the front-runner in his sights on Lap 5 when he clipped the trackside banking as he powered out of a turn and was flung to the ground. Rejoining the race fifth after the incident had cost 15 seconds, he swept back to third by the finish to earn second overall in the MXGP individual classification.
"It's incredible to win again at the Nations. I savored that winning moment in the first moto so much, particularly to do it here again in Ernée in front of this fantastic crowd. I think I was riding at my very best level today; I was also strong in the final race to come back to third after my crash. I did my job for the team and I delivered well in my last race for Kawasaki too. I didn't know until after the finish of the first race that Mathis was out; it's a shame for Mathis, but that's the Nations. The atmosphere with the public was fantastic all weekend; it was a moment we will never forget."
- Romain Febvre (France, MXGP)
It was a tough day for KRT and Team France MX2 colleague Mathis Valin. A seventh-placed start against the 450s in the opening MXGP/MX2 moto was highly promising, but the elation was negated before the end of the opening lap. Reacting to a slight line-switch by the rider ahead on the first long downhill, he clipped the trackside banking with his front wheel and cartwheeled down the hill; his bike was too badly damaged in the incident to continue. After recovering from the physical shaking, he was back in track action an hour later against the MX Open opposition to hold a confident eighth, and second in MX2, for half of the race before the after-effects of the earlier crash started to take its toll and, with nothing still at stake in the Nations stakes, he was pushed back to a still respectable 11th overall and fifth in MX2 at the finish.
"I made a pretty good start against the 450s in that first race, but then I made my own mistake. I went a little to the right when the guy in front moved across on me, but I went a little too much and hit the yellow block; when you went even one millimeter off-line here, you were in trouble. But it is what it is; it happened, and I can't change it. It was a pretty tough crash, and I was in a bit of pain for the second race, so it was hard to manage everything, but I gave it my all."
- Mathis Valin (France, MX2)
Pauls Jonass had more to celebrate as he led Latvia to fourth, their best-ever performance, in the Nations team classification. He pushed forward to third already on the first lap of the MX Open/MX2 moto and maintained the placing to the end, finishing just two seconds from second. After a short break, he was in action again, moving forward to eighth after four laps and bringing it home to ensure his country held off the USA for fourth in the final team result. He was also the third-best individual in the MX Open class overall.
"I was really happy with my first moto, and I was catching [Cooper] Webb in the last moto until I had a small crash, but P4 for Latvia makes me so happy! Both brothers did a good job too; we worked well together and had a good team atmosphere. We are a small country, and 10 years ago we had a feeling of success when we just made it to the A final, but today we beat some of the mecca countries of the sport; we were consistent, and it paid off. The track was rough and really tricky today. Some parts were really deep with good traction and other parts were slick; you had to know where the limits were and when you could push."
- Pauls Jonass (Latvia, MX Open)
Francisco Garcia was eliminated from 13th on the second lap of his first race of the afternoon, but remained cool to concentrate on the deciding moto as the Spanish team disputed the team victory with Belgium. Holding 14th from his team's second gate-pick through the early laps, he pushed forward to 11th with five laps remaining and, frenetically urged on from trackside as Spain moved to within a single point of victory, he edged ever closer to the pass he needed for 10th until stalling on the penultimate lap to finish 13th and secure the silver medal in the team classification.
"I'm proud to be part of the first Spanish team to ever reach a podium at the MX of Nations! In both races, I did my best, and I’m happy with my results. In the last race, the team pit-boarded me to try to gain several positions for the overall win; I did my best, but I couldn’t make more passes. Anyway, it’s great to be on the box with such amazing fans here this weekend."
- Francisco Garcia (Spain, MX Open)
Monster Energy® Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Levi Kitchen was running a strong eighth, and third for 250, in Race 1 until he was knocked off by an errant 450 rider, remounting with a damaged bike to finish 25th. He bounced back for a race-long 14th less than an hour later to help the US to fifth in the final Nations classification. Taylor Hammal again exceeded all expectations against the GP regulars for Great Britain, pushing forward from 24th to 16th on the DRT Kawasaki in the first moto, a significant result in earning Britain seventh in the team result. Guilherme Bresolin performed admirably for Brazil to finish 29-25 against the 450s, helping his country to 17th in the final team classification. Haruki Yokoyama finished eighth despite a fall during the morning B final as Japan just missed taking the final transfer to the main program.