Following a dramatic final race at the eighth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship that took place on the rough and rutty hills of Teutschenthal, Germany, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre and Jeremy Van Horebeek were frustrated with their fifth and fourteenth place results.
In the opening race of the weekend, Van Horebeek & Febvre had their YZ450FM’s singing as they made up the top-five on the exit of turn-one. Headstrong, Febvre put in an inspirational charge forward to pass his teammate for fourth-place on Lap-1. Startled, Van Horebeek was pushed off his line and lost a couple of places to Clement Desalle and Antonio Cairoli and eventually came home in seventh place.
Febvre ignored the stiffness and bruising in his right arm as he closed the gap on a fading Gautier Paulin. With two-laps to go the Frenchman was lapping 1.5 seconds faster than his compatriot, Paulin, but fell fractionally short on time, and had to settle for fourth-place.
Teutschenthal’s tight and twisty layout made passing difficult. 180-degree turns have a habit of slowing everything down and a tenancy to offer only one fast line. Jeremy Seewer finished the first race in eleventh place, frustrated with the errors that cost him a position inside the top-ten.
The final race was filled with adversity. The race got off to a phenomenal start with all three YZ450F’s emerging from turn-one inside the top-seven. Wilvo Yamaha Official’s Jeremy Seewer was initially the best placed rider in fourth-place before he stalled the bike in a rutted turn. Febvre powered his way into fourth while Van Horebeek was building on seventh-place when he got out of shape on a hillside hair-pin and side-saddled off the side of his bike and into another rider.
Almost a carbon copy of Race 1, Febvre hounded Paulin for the entire 30 minute duration of the race but fell with two-laps to go and bent his handlebars. As one of the most determined riders inside the MXGP class, the former World Champion remounted his YZ450FM and managed to salvage seventh place for fifth overall.
Van Horebeek was experiencing some pain and didn’t rejoin the race, while Seewer bounced back from a couple of mistakes for tenth-place and tenth overall.
The Grand Prix, round nine of nineteen, will take place at Matterley Basin in Winchester, England, on the weekend of June 3rd.
Jeremy Seewer
10th MXGP Overall, 9th MXGP Championship Standings
“I always feel great here in Teutschenthal. I have a lot of great memories here and many great fans. I am thankful to them. Today was really frustrating for me. My starts were not good and I crashed in both races but I still managed to finish inside the top-10 so that is a positive and my speed is OK. It was a very frustrating weekend, I am frustrated I couldn’t put the puzzle together but it will be OK, it’s extra motivation for England and France.”
Romain Febvre
5th MXGP Overall, 5th MXGP Championship Standings