Shortly after the running of the MXGP of Lombok – Indonesia at the Selaparang Circuit, Antti Pyrhonen, Team Manager of the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP program, was reflecting on the back-to-back Grands Prix team rider Romain Febvre won—the MXGP of Sumbawa and the MXGP of Lombok - while competing in Indonesia.
“I believe the two wins in Indonesia will allow Romain to win more often,” offered Pyrhonen on the eve of the MXGP of the Czech Republic. “The competition is very strong, and you need a perfect start and a perfect race to bring it home, but he is in really good shape, and he is confident with the bike. I can’t see why he can’t win this weekend or in Lommel.”
And with one-four moto scores, Febvre did, in fact, win his third consecutive MXGP Grand Prix of the 2023 season. In good spirits and now looking to this weekend’s MXGP of Flanders at the famed Lommel sand circuit to further spool up his charge of running down fleeing FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) leader Jorge Prado, Febvre spoke about the task at hand, and what will ultimately come his way as the summer wears on.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve been doing good lately,” smiled Febvre from the Lommel circuit. “I mean with all of this season I’ve been good so far and everything is going fine. The championship is not done. It is going to the end. Yes, Jorge Prado has some lead now. I missed one race and that was in Spain, and he did good at that race. I think Jeffrey Herlings also took 50 points from that race. For sure it is going to be tough to fight for the title if nothing happens to Jorge, like if he has a mechanical failure or something like that. Yes, it’s not done, so we will see if we can make it happen or not."
Currently positioned second in MXGP points, Febvre is keenly aware that he and his Kawasaki KX450SR will need to go on an absolute charge to try and hunt down and reel in Prado, who currently enjoys a 114-point lead.
“Yes, I am the hunter and I’m chasing down Prado,” said Febvre. “It’s fine and I’m winning GPs, but every time I make headway, I’m not taking points away from Jorge so much because now we have the qualifying races, which are with points, and he’s tough to beat like that because he always takes a good start. The qualifying races are only 20 minutes of racing, so he has always been able to take a few points from those races. Maybe I’ll do well on Sunday and be gaining points, but at the end and due to the qualifying races, I’m not gaining points, you know? Yeah, it has been a bit difficult, but I believe it’s his strategy to do this. Yes, I will try my best to catch him, but we will see.”
“I didn’t win three GPs in a row since 2015,” continued the Frenchman. “That has been good on my side for the confidence. It has also been great for the team because the last time we won with Kawasaki was in 2021, so it is good to be back on top. And yeah, we’ve won three times in a row now. Now we are going to Lommel this weekend, which is a track that I like and I won there in 2021. Yeah, I would like to win there on Sunday. It’s a track everyone in Europe knows. It’s a little bit like Glen Helen in California, where a lot of the American guys ride. I really want to do good there. Now I am good in the sand, so hopefully I can win again this weekend.”
The 2015 MXGP World Champion and racer who’s haunted the upper echelons of the classification for nearly a decade now, Febvre knows how to charge and he knows how to win. And that’s exactly what he’ll need to do if he wants to run down Jorge Prado, come the conclusion of the year at the MXGP of Great Britain.
“Yes, I can,” said Febvre. “All through this season we’ve been pretty consistent. Yes, we’ve had up and downs like everyone. Also, we are learning a new bike. That made for a tough winter because we had a lot of things to do and a lot of testing with Japan. We went to Japan and they also came over here. We worked hard. The bike is good now, but it is not done yet with testing, so yeah, it is exciting, but at the same time, it takes time to get used to the bike and to put everything together.”
Following this weekend’s MXGP of Flanders, Febvre and the globetrotting GP contingent will move off to Grands Prix in Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. In the summer swing for the world’s best motocross pilots, Febvre is totally committed to moto wins and Grand Prix overall victories.
“Yeah, yeah, honestly, that’s my goal," he stated. "My goal is to win as much as possible with both motos and GPs. Yeah, that’s the only way that I can gain points on Prado, so yeah, this is my goal. All of the tracks coming up now, yeah, I really like them. At the moment I don’t see a big problem where I can have a struggle on the track with. Yeah, I’m looking for the win.”
Can Romain Febvre do it? Can he hunt down and make a move on the dominating Spaniard Prado?
“Yeah. Like I say, for sure it’s going to be tough because he has some speed and he’s also good on most tracks and he’s good every time in the motos. His best points are his starts because he’s always starting at the front and it makes his life easier. He doesn’t get into trouble. He’s making less mistakes than us sometimes because he doesn’t have to fight as much. He’s just leading. Sometimes when you have to fight and you have other riders on your back, then you make a mistakes or you crash or whatever. It’s going to be tough. He has a lead of over 100 points, so that’s almost like having a lead of two GPs. For sure now with seven races to go, I will not lie, it’s going to be tough. But for sure I’ll try my best and we’ll see at the end.”
