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Romain Febvre Scores Third Place Finish in Race 1 at Almonte
Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP's Romain Febvre suffered a heavy crash in Race 2 of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Almonte in Andalucia, after a third-place finish in Race 1, and fortunately has no serious injuries.
A clever inside switch on the first turn of Race 1 saw the Frenchman emerge fifth. It took him less than half a lap to move into fourth as the Top 4 in the series raced clear of the pack. Positions remained unchanged for half the race until Febvre launched past the series red-plate holder for third to the finish. The loose-surfaced track was becoming even more unpredictable by the final race of the weekend. The defending champion found himself sixth after burying the front wheel at the second turn, before quickly rebounding to fifth halfway around the lap and charging around the next rival for fourth on Lap 3. Another well-executed pass over the finish jump at the end of Lap 5 saw him take third, and a 3-3 day appeared to be in the cards, until he suffered a heavy crash on Lap 10. The front wheel folded in a fast turn as the soft berm collapsed, and Febvre took a heavy blow to the chest as he was thrown over the bars. After needing several minutes to recover, he returned to the paddock on foot and examinations in the medical center showed no broken bones. The incident dropped him to fourth in the series standings, just seven points from the red plate.
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass regrouped overnight from a disappointing qualifying on Saturday to post two solid rides. The Latvian progressed quickly from thirteenth to ninth through the first few turns of Race 1, and was looking at a Top 10 finish until he was forced out with two laps remaining. Starting just outside the Top 10, he found a good rhythm around the rugged track to mount a series of passes, clinching his eventual ninth place four laps from the finish. He heads to Round 3 of the series tenth in the standings.
"Today was a tough day at the office for the entire team. Romain was having another solid weekend and had everything under control with third in Race 1. He also climbed to third in Race 2 and was looking at a probable podium, until he made one small mistake. It was quite a nasty crash with a sudden stop, in which he hit his stomach. He went to the medical center and they took an X-ray, which showed no broken bones. Everything is fine, but he took a heavy hit and was in pain. Luckily, there was no worse injury. The most important thing now is for Romain to get healed up, and hopefully he can recover quickly and be ready for Switzerland next weekend. Pauls struggled a little with the track this weekend and couldn't keep the flow. We had a mechanical issue in Race 1 which was out of our hands, but he had a solid Race 2 and pushed to the end to bring home the best result he could."
- Antti Pyrhönen (KRT Team Manager)
"It was a challenging day. I felt fit and healthy, but just wasn't riding the greatest in Race 1, then we had a small issue and I had to pull out. I kept charging in Race 2, passing some guys to finish ninth. It wasn't the best day, and not where we want to be, but we're looking to rebound in Switzerland."
- Pauls Jonass
