A suffocating Grand Prix of Thailand provided one of the hottest and toughest rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship in recent memory and Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre rode superbly in the draining conditions to finish fourth overall and almost snare his first silverware on the works YZ450FM. The Frenchman, in just his second appearance in blue for what was the second fixture of eighteen in the 2015 series, scored a top three result in the first moto with third place and then followed up with a fourth in the second race to classify fourth overall and just three points from the rostrum. Jeremy Van Horebeek did not tally any points in either outing after a first moto crash left him with affected vision.
Thailand Circuit was a new track created by overlaying a tight, compact and jumpy course across the asphalt of a flat road racing facility less than an hour west of Bangkok. The imported dirt and material excavated from site meant a terrain that was rutty in corners, hard-pack in others and inconsistent with traction and feel. Febvre was reasonably content with the challenge but Van Horebeek made some chassis and engine set-up changes in search of an optimum configuration to try and figure out the surface.
Another important factor at this race was the stifling temperatures. On Saturday the thermometer reached thirty-seven degrees in the afternoon sun and was at a similar level on Sunday for the Grand Prix motos; the second race on the programme for MXGP and MX2 was actually shortened by five minutes in the interests of safety.
In the first race (thirty minutes and two laps duration) Febvre started well out of the gate and rode hard to pull through from a first lap position of sixth to arrive to third. The 23 year old attacked the jumps and lumps of the course with gusto and his result was hard fought and well earned. Van Horebeek meanwhile struggled from sixteenth on the start line and a first lap accident had ramifications for the rest of the day as the Belgian circulated for two-thirds of the race and eventually pulled out with blurred vision seven laps before the flag.
Later in the afternoon JVH was lively away in moto two and ran inside the top five until he again had problems with his sight. Febvre pulled past him into fourth and the 2014 championship runner-up had to retire three laps later. Febvre meanwhile could not make up more ground on Ryan Villopoto and ended a draining meeting with 3-4.
Thailand was a satisfactory experience for DP19 Racing Yamaha’s David Philippaerts. The Italian rode strongly on Saturday to post a bright seventh position in the Qualification Heat. DP found a groove around the hard and dusty Thai curves even if he was not a huge fan of the continual stream of jumps. He made a mistake on the first lap of the first moto by braking too hard in one of the corners to avoid a rider ahead and stalled the bike. By the time he restarted he was near the back, in twenty-third. Philippaerts then gunned the YZ450F to an admirable twelfth spot. In the second moto he squeezed into the top ten – with tenth place – to post the same ranking in the overall Grand Prix classification.
After two rounds the early points table of the premier MXGP class shows Clement Desalle leading with 88 and Febvre is fifth with 67. Van Horebeek is twelfth and one position in front of Philippaerts. The Grand Prix of Argentina – the first visit to the country this century – will represent round three of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship and will take place in three weeks time at the new facility of Neuquen.
Romain Febvre
“Yesterday I struggled with my starts so we improved the bike for today and I just had to focus. If you don’t get that part of the race right then its possible to lose fifteen seconds on the front guys. I was up there in the first heat, passed a few and was third for most of the moto. I was a bit stressed. I had a big gap over Nagl but it was the first time on the 450 being there with the ‘big guys’ and I put too much pressure on myself. I lost a lot of energy because of that. The team worked so hard to put the bike on the podium and I tried my best also – like every time – and it felt great to get into the top three. At the start of the second moto I was looking for the GP overall podium but I did not get away so well. I made some good moves but I was stuck behind Butron. I lost a lot of seconds to the leaders. I caught Jeremy, who was struggling, but then that was it. I almost had the same points as Cairoli and nearly made it. I’m happy though. It has been a really tough GP, the hardest. We came from minus temperatures to more than thirty degrees!”
Jeremy van Horebeek
“It was a bad weekend. I hit my head in the first moto and could not see clearly. I had to retire twice. The heat also affected me. We have some work to do with the team because we are not where we have to be. We will see. I don’t have anything more to say about the weekend.”
David Philippaerts
“Not a 100% day. In the first moto I was on the brakes too much in a corner because I did not want to touch the guy in front of me and stopped the bike. I started in twenty-fourth and finished twelfth and this was good because of the fast lap-times. It was also important to pass many riders. In the second one I started in the top five but made a lot of mistakes and at least ten riders passed me in the first three laps. In the last ten minutes I was stronger and made four positions; it was a decent end and if the race had been full length then I might have got Ferris also. Tenth was OK and continues our good way. The track was hard here. I’m happy and we will focus for the next race. Last year in Thailand we had a 0-0, so this was better.”