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Podium Once Again For Romain Febvre In Latvia
Romain Febvre of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP raced to his fourth podium of the season in the Latvian round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Kegums.
The KRT leader got an excellent jump out of the gate in the first moto but as the pack dived into turn one a couple of riders alongside him collided and, suffering a momentary loss of momentum as they bounced into him, he emerged outside the top ten. Reacting ferociously he had already pulled back to eighth by the completion of the opening lap and then spent several laps in an intense struggle for positions against rivals determined to defend at all costs. On the thirteenth of seventeen laps he made sixth his own with a clever pass and immediately sped clear. Posting his personal fastest laps of the race on a clear track he slashed the four second gap to fifth but the checkered flag came out before he could mount an attack. Acknowledging the importance of making quick moves as rain at the start of race two added visibility difficulties to the rugged nature of the track he responded quickly after gating fourth to move past both of the championship leaders during the first four laps with two exhilarating moves and immediately raced clear. A second moto win of the season looked possible as he maintained his cushion but he had to surrender the lead three laps from the end as some of his favored lines deteriorated in the conditions. A third consecutive podium in GPs in which he has started remained secure and the Frenchman has now consolidated his third place in the series standings heading to the midway stage of the championship next weekend in Germany.
KRT teammate Mitch Evans was out of luck at turn one of the first moto as a collision to his inside pushed the Australian almost to the track perimeter through the turn and he faced a long haul from twenty-first at the first timing split. But he persisted to the end, his final pass for seventeenth coming just three laps from the finish. Race two saw Mitch find a better run through turn one and from thirteen on lap one he continued to push, taking over his eventual eleventh place on lap eight of sixteen to clinch eleventh overall on the day.