Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP's Romain Febvre returned to the podium just one week after his return from injury with third overall in the toughest round of the entire FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship series at the sand "hell" of Lommel.
The Frenchman got bumped by another rider entering turn one at the start of the first moto but immediately found his rhythm to move from outside the top-ten to sixth on the opening lap as all of the big guns made their way to the front. Two further passes saw him fourth by lap five and there ensued a dramatic duel with the series points-leader until the Kawasaki rider, despite his recent lack of racing and the heat, proved the stronger of the duo during the second-half of the moto around the brutal track, where lap times were ten seconds slower than the previous day. A much better start in race two saw Febvre move past his teammate Jeremy Seewer for second within a few corners but a simple fall at the start of lap two put him back to fourth. He homed back in stylishly on the points-leader again during the second-half of the race, eventually moving past and clear ten minutes from the finish to secure third in the moto and, more significantly, return to the overall podium in only his second race back since injury. His injury absence from four GPs leaves him seventh in the points standings.
Romain Febvre: "Just before I got injured we had made some changes to the settings on the bike for the hardpack, but we had no chance to test them in sand until this week and I just couldn't find my flow yesterday, so we made the conscious decision to return to our settings from the start of the season for today and it worked well. I got punched in the first turn in race one and had to come from far back for fourth, then in the second race I got a really good start but crashed just after the finish line on the second lap. I thought it would be tough after that but I immediately found the flow again and wasn't exhausted; even Jorge was not far away. I'm really happy to be back on the box after five weeks out; I did everything I could except riding whilst I was out injured, but when you jump back on the bike it is so physically demanding just to find the flow. And it is so much easier when you are not fighting the bike because you don't land in all of the holes."
Jeremy Seewer underlined his lightening reactions at the gate and the outstanding power delivery of the KX450-SR as he exploded from gate-ten to exit turn one second in both motos. In the first race he was soon pushed back to fourth by the absolute sand-experts but then settled into a solid pace for several laps before gradually losing positions in the second-half to finish tenth. The Swiss again stormed through the first turn second in race two but was quickly demoted to fifth. He surrendered the placing for a few laps mid-moto before coming back decisively to finish fifth in moto and eighth overall. He retains fifth in the points-standings.
Jeremy Seewer: "To finish fifth in the second moto is where I should be in the sand; I made a podium here in the past but I can't expect to match those real sand riders. I got two super starts and we kept adjusting the bike settings all weekend; perhaps I could have stayed sixth in the first moto too but I just didn't feel safe riding that pace at the end so I had to back it off. I'm not tired even now after the second moto even though the track was so rough. The track was strange this weekend with no rhythm; normally you can surf over the bumps but this year it was on-off all the time."
Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager): "I am so happy for the whole team, but especially for Romain, for this result. Romain was battling for the title for seven rounds until he got hurt and it was amazing how he has managed to remotivate himself even though he knew the title was gone. He did his homework and the return to the podium in his second race back is the reward for the hard work. I am also proud for the entire team, because Lommel is not easy to handle, and also for Jeremy and his crew; this is not his favourite track but he rode so well in the second moto and his crew also work day-in day-out for this."
Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team's Bobby Bruce was initially twenty-third from an outside gate in race one but a fall already on the first full lap cost ten positions and he retired after another tumble at the twenty-minute stage of the race. Another early fall after gating twenty-first in race two pushed him back to thirtieth; responding strongly he pulled himself back to twenty-sixth before withdrawing after another fall.