Febvre leads Yamaha sweep of the Grand Prix of Czech Republic

[Alex]

 

Loket may have remodelled their layout to include a new jump and corner section and moved the start gate back to the original position but the course was still stony and slippery and tested the full range of a rider's feel for traction and grip. The technical edge was increased by the hard-pack around what is otherwise a flowing and relatively easy racing course.

 

Watched by 24,000 spectators Febvre set-off from his second Pole Position of the season won through Saturday's Qualification Heat. He settled into second place behind Evgeny Bobryshev and bided his time until the Russian slightly dropped his pace before taking control on lap six. From there Romain built a comfortable advantage to seize his eighth moto triumph.

 

In the second race Febvre had to work a bit harder and found some resistance to his designs on victory from Clement Desalle. The duo swapped positions briefly and enjoyed an intense scrap before '461' was able to make the break on lap seven of nineteen. Bobryshev was also part of the leading trio.

 

Jeremy Van Horebeek finished fifth in the final Grand Prix listing. '89' made a reasonable getaway in the first moto and quickly found himself in fifth position and chasing Clement Desalle. The two Belgians circulated together for the entire race with the gap between them growing and shrinking at various stages. When Gautier Paulin crashed JVH bumped up to fourth. In the second outing Van Horebeek was not able to exit the gate with the leaders and had to push hard to recover from twelfth until fifth, again with Kevin Strijbos for company.

 

DP19 Yamaha Racing's David Philippaerts was fighting hard for a top ten slot in the first moto until a crash on the penultimate lap meant that the Italian needed to have six stitches inserted into a cut on his right arm. He did not take to the line for the second moto as he also knocked his head and was genuinely roughed-up by the fall.

 

With World Champion Tony Cairoli choosing not to enter the Grand Prix at Loket and also opting out of the next fixture to fix a fractured arm, the MXGP standings make even better reading for Febvre with an 88 point gap over Gautier Paulin. Van Horebeek's form has also added numerical weight and he has 294 points and eighth position. Philippaerts rests with thirteenth.

 

Round fourteen of MXGP follows hard after Loket with the Grand Prix of Belgium entering the daunting sand of Lommel next weekend.

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