Romain Febvre of France gets a stronger grip on the MXGP points lead with a 1-1 sweep in Uddevala, Sweden; Tim Gasjer wins MX2.
Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre continued his recent tear in the FIM Motocross World Championship by posting his fourth consecutive MXGP win at the Grand Prix of Sweden in Uddevalla, Sweden, Sunday.
Before approximately 22,000 fans, Febvre notched his first 1-1 GP moto sweep and extended his series points lead in the World Championship’s premier class. It was a great day for Yamaha, as Febvre’s teammate, Jeremy Van Horebeek, finished second overall, giving the Belgian his first podium finish of the year and Yamaha its first one-two finish of the year.
Febvre excelled on the hard-packed Uddevalla circuit located near the city of Gothenburg. The dusty conditions and slick terrain made the starts extremely important, and Febvre got a great one in the first moto. From there, the Frenchman was able to easily outpace Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev of Russia. Van Horebeek inherited second place after Bobryshev crashed at about the midway point of the moto, setting the top two as Febvre went to score his fifth moto victory in the last five Grands Prix and extend his point lead even further.
Febvre snagged the holeshot in moto two as well, but Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP’s Kevin Strijbos quickly shot into the lead after Febvre ran wide off the first turn. Febvre quickly recomposed himself and soon began to prove Strijbos for a weakness. It took Febvre 15 of the race’s 19 laps to find it, but he finally executed a block pass on Strijobs in the back section of the circuit and pulled away from Strijbos. Febvre crossed the line four laps later to cement the first 1-1 MXGP performance of his career. Meanwhile, Van Horebeek started in fifth and held it to the finish, which was good enough for the second overall. Strijbos went 8-2 for third overall.
“The weekend was really great,” Febvre said. “I had won three in a row coming here but had not gone 1-1, so to do that is so good. The start was important to be able to reach the lead, ride safe and find good lines. In the second race I had the holeshot but because I went a little bit wide Kevin came inside. I knew it would be difficult to pass him because we had a nice battle on Saturday. I made a couple of mistakes and in my mind I was thinking second was enough to win the GP, but after two laps I was again on his rear wheel so I decided again to try and pass and made it happen with three laps to go. The start is getting very important every race and we all have the same speed. We had some testing last week and we improved a lot our performance for the starts and also on the track. We will see. This weekend went pretty good, so we can be happy with the job we did.”
Febvre’s win streak has vaulted him 39 points ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli, the defending MXGP World Champion, who continues to nurse a hand injury and was only able to muster seventh overall via a third-place finish in the second moto after he crashed in the first moto and finished 13th.
Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gasjer scored another MX2 win after putting together 2-1 moto finishes. Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings won the first moto, a feat all the more impressive as he just had surgery to place a plate and nine screws in his collarbone. Gasjer followed Herlings across the line in the second moto, followed by Valentin Guillod of Switzerland. But things went wrong for Herlings in the second moto when he crashed in the first turn and suffered a in the first turn and retired with a serious laceration to his pinky finger.
With Herlings no longer a factor in the race, Gajser roosted away from the field for the moto win and overall victory. Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Jeremy Seewer finished second in the moto, which was good enough for third overall behind Guillod (2-4).
FIM Motocross World Championship
Grand Prix of Sweden
Uddevalla
Uddevalla, Sweden
Results: July 5, 2015 (Round 11 of 18)
MXGP Overall
1. Romain Febvre (FRA)-Yam/1-1
2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL)-Yam/2-5
3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL)-Suz/8-2
4. Dean Ferris (AUS)-Hus/6-4
5. Todd Waters (AUS)-Hus/4-7
6. Shaun Simpson (GBR)-KTM/3-11
7. Antonio Cairoli (ITA)-KTM/13-3
8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED)-Suz/9-6
9. Gautier Paulin (FRA)-Hon/5-10
10. David Philippaerts (ITA)-Yam/7-9
FIM MXGP Series Points Standings (After 11 of 18 rounds)
1. Romain Febvre-419
2. Antonio Cairoli-380
3. Max Nagl-360
4. Gautier Paulin-351
5. Evgeny Bobryshev-319
6. Clement Desalle-291
7. Shaun Simpson-257
8. Jeremy Van Horebeek-232
9. Todd Waters-224
10. Glenn Coldenhoff-196
MX2 Overall
MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO)-Hon/2-1
2. Valentin Guillod (SUI)-Yam/3-4
3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI)-Suz/7-2
4. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS)-Hon/5-5
5. Brian Bogers (NED)-KTM/8-8
6. Brent Van doninck (BEL)-Yam/6-11
7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED)-KTM/1-DNF
8. Roberts Justs (LAT)-KTM/11-9
9. Jordi Tixier (FRA)-Kaw/24-3
10. Benoit Paturel (FRA)-Yam/12-10
FIM MX2 Series Points Standings (After 11 of 16 rounds)
1. Jeffrey Herlings-423
2. Tim Gajser-345
3. Valentin Guillod-335
4. Jeremy Seewer-311
5. Pauls Jonass-307
6. Jordi Tixier-306
7. Max Anstie-262
8. Julien Lieber-259
9. Aleksandr Tonkov-256
10. Dylan Ferrandis-205
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