Sixth GP win of the season for Romain Febvre

Romain Febvre of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP raced to his sixth victory of the last seven GPs in the Dutch round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at a rugged track on the outskirts of Arnhem. Coming off a dominant victory during Qualifying on Saturday the Kawasaki leader was confident headed into race one and had already made second secure by the end of the opening lap. He was then content to keep a watching brief before mounting an attack for the lead at half-distance, surging past in dramatic style at the end of the ninth of eighteen laps to immediately open up a gap. Suddenly two laps later the Frenchman ground mysteriously to a halt in deep soft sand on landing from a jump; the E-starter responded immediately but there was no forward momentum and it cost more than fifteen seconds before he realised that the cause was a stone which had jammed the rear brake mechanism. Once more lapping several seconds faster than his rivals he had closed to within sight of the moto winner at the chequered flag. A perfect second moto - the fifth holeshot of the season and consistently fast lap-times at the head of the field - secured yet another overall GP victory - his sixth in the last seven rounds - from a 2-1 day. With three rounds of the championship remaining he is now a secure second in the series, ninety-two points behind the pace-setter and seventy-seven clear of third.

Romain Febvre: "Already from yesterday I felt good on the track and had a good flow; the track was heavy and you could really make the difference. Everything was going to plan in the first moto until the bike suddenly stopped on a jump. I thought at first it was the chain but then I realised there was a stone in the rear brake. I came back for second so I knew in race two I just had to make no mistakes; just holeshot and ride my own race. People keep mentioning the championship but for me something now needs to happen to Prado; I just try to win as many times as I can for the rest of the season." KRT teammate Mitch Evans, second in morning Warm-up, rode a solid first moto to maintain his lap times throughout the moto as he moved forward to finish tenth. Race two was following a similar pattern as he came from twelfth to challenge for tenth before fading to fifteenth in the closing laps as the effects of the sickness which had laid him low all week kicked in. The Australian was twelfth overall in the GP and has comsolidated that ranking in the series standings. Mitch Evans: "Today started with a good feeling in Warm-up and I got two decent starts but just didn't have the flow. That was OK for P10 in moto one but the sickness I've been dealing with all week kicked in halfway through race two; I just didn't have anything left in the tank and was riding round with my tongue in the chain. I showed good speed considering I was laid up all week so now it's time to recover and carry the momentum into the last three rounds."

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