FEBVRE & GAJSER GO FOR GOLD

Both championship leaders, Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings wound up on the operating table this weekend, Nagl with a broken Fibula and Herlings with a broken collarbone. Regardless of their absence the deserving victors of the MXGP of Germany were Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre and Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser.

The man to recon with these days is no other than Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre, who just has this amazing ability to find traction on the slickest of circuits. Today the young Frenchman stood on top of the box for the third time in a row and hit yet another career milestone as he stole the MXGP red plate from the injured Max Nagl.

Things may be starting to look up for Team HRC’s Gautier Paulin who looked as smooth and as fluid as ever on his way to his third race win of the season and second podium performance. Gautier said, “It’s great to be up front again. I have a great feeling when I ride like this and I really enjoy the bike. For sure it’s fun for me to be back up here again.”

Another solid performance for the seasoned Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP rider Kevin Strijbos who amazingly landed on the podium again despite being slightly on the rusty side after missing half the season due to a wrist and thumb injury.

Three riders scored thirty-six points this weekend, which means technically they all tied for third. The official results are determined by who had the best finish in the final race, which means Strijbos was able to uncork the bottle of fizz while Bobryshev got the short end of the stick with his demotion to fifth. In between the two, Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Jeremy Van Horebeek is starting to find his feet. The Belgian put in two great rides this weekend for fourth overall despite coming together with Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Todd Waters in the final race and going down.

Despite running a blistering pace all weekend and quite possibly looking the most comfortable yet aggressive out on the track today was Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev whose hopes of a MXGP round win went out the window when he gave the ground a hug around turn one.

As for the defending champ Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli, he put in another commendable performance given his circumstances for seventh overall. TC222 now drops back to third in the championship and trails Nagl, who is second, by eight points.

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:29.682; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:02.281; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:03.695; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:06.644; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:27.931; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:41.944; 7. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:44.673; 8. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Honda), +0:49.991; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +1:01.136; 10. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:07.095.

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), 34:30.088; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:03.370; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:04.946; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:06.570; 5. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:07.448; 6. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:10.122; 7. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:11.056; 8. Todd Waters (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:11.282; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:22.463; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Honda), +0:25.321.

MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 47 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 45 p.; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 36 p.; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 36 p.; 6. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 30 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Christophe Charlier (FRA, HON), 24 p.; 9. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 21 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 369 points; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 360 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 352 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 324 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 306 p.; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 291 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 227 p.; 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 194 p.; 9. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 192 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 169 p.

MXGP Manufacturer: 1. Husqvarna, 409 points; 2. Suzuki, 392 p.; 3. KTM, 391 p.; 4. Yamaha, 374 p.; 5. Honda, 372 p.; 6. Kawasaki, 243 p.; 7. TM, 70 p.

Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser is carrying some serious momentum at the moment, which was extremely fitting today with momentum and throttle control being the keys to the race. Gajser has now won three grand prix’ and has leapt to second in the championship standings, 100 points shy of Jeffrey Herlings.

Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie’s incredible skill base helped him land on the podium for the first time this year with his first race win of the year in the final moto. Anstie smiled, “It was like Matterley except I was thinking I will not get passed on the last couple of laps this time. I felt really smooth today, the bike is working really well and I hope to get up here more often.”

After a couple of rough grand prix’ Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod is on the bounce back. Guillod was throwing down some of the fastest lap times of the weekend and was a good bet for the win. Unfortunately the chances of his third grand prix victory diminished when he nailed the gate in race two and had to start from the back of the pack. Throw a crash into that equation and uncorking a bottle of bubbles on the third step of the podium is definitely something to be proud of.

Meanwhile Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier also smashed the gate and went down in the final race. Like Guillod, the defending champ put in a remarkable performance, which was also combined with a small crash. Nevertheless he managed to take home fourth overall ahead of Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Julien Lieber who put a wrap on his first top five finish since his amazing second step performance at the season opener in Qatar.

The championship leader Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings clipped his handle bar on the top of a jump while throwing a massive scrub out of turn one. It has been confirmed that he has sustained a broken collarbone and is already on the operating table to have it plated. Like Herlings Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Aleksandr Tonkov also had a big get off today and went to hospital with a suspected broken collar-bone or shoulder.