Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre suffered a heavy crash in the second moto of the Spanish round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Almonte in Andalucia after a third-place finish in race one but fortunately has no serious injuries.

A clever inside switch at turn one of the first moto saw the Frenchman emerge fifth and it took him less than half a lap to move into fourth as the top four 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 but the front two were already ten seconds clear and he had to be content to maintain third to the finish. The loose-surfaced track was becoming ever more unpredictable by the final moto of the weekend and the defending champion found himself sixth after burying the front wheel at turn two before quickly rebounding to fifth halfway round the lap and charging around the next rival for fourth on lap three. Another well-executed pass over the finish jump at the end of lap five saw him take third but again the front two were ten seconds clear and a 3-3 day appeared to be on the cards until he suffered a heavy crash on lap ten when the front wheel folded in a fast turn as the soft berm collapsed and Febvre took a heavy blow to 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 centre showed no broken bones. The incident dropped him to fourth in the series standings after it had appeared that he would be heading to the next round second, just seven points from the red plate.

Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager):« 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 the first moto. He also climbed to third in the second moto and was looking at a probable podium until he had one small mistake. It was quite a nasty crash with a sudden stop in which he hit his stomach. He has been to the medical centre and they took an X-ray. Everything is fine but he took a heavy hit and was in pain; luckily at least there was no worse injury. The most important thing now is for Romain to get healed up; 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 the first moto which was out of our hands – that is motor sport – but he had a solid second moto and pushed to the end to bring home the best result he could today. »

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 one and was looking at a top-ten finish until he was forced out with two laps remaining. Again starting just outside the top-ten he found a good rhythm around the rugged track to mount a series of passes, clinching his eventual ninth four laps from the close. He heads to round three of the series tenth in the series standings.

Pauls Jonass: « It was a challenging day. I felt fit and healthy but I just wasn’t riding the greatest in the first moto, then we had a small issue and I had to pull out. I kept charging in the second moto, passing some guys to finish ninth. It wasn’t the best day – not where we want to be – but we’re looking to rebound in Switzerland.« 

(Source & Photos : Kawasaki Racing)