The Grand Prix of Europe at a bright but changeable sandy circuit of Valkenswaard was the setting for a gritty event for Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube and Romain Febvre in particular. Watched by 32,600 fans for the fifth round of eighteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship the MXGP rookie guided his factory YZ450FM to tenth and fifth in the motos on Sunday to place seventh overall on the day. The 24 year old recovered well from a first moto crash that dumped him to the rear of the pack and also aced the holeshot in the second race.
The sand at the Eurocircuit provided a typically rough test for man and machine but the hard base to the terrain added a slippery edge. The track had plenty of natural watering on Saturday courtesy of periods of light rain but a spell of good weather in the Netherlands meant that the ground was solid and choppy in sections.
Febvre set some good speed on Saturday. A tasty battle with Evgeny Bobryshev in the Qualification Heat resulted in third position after Shaun Simpson crashed and the Frenchman rolled his bike into the gate in the same slot for Sunday. His first race was tempered within the first minutes of action as ‘461’ got out of shape and crashed trying to lift through one of the ruttiest and most treacherous zones of the course. From that point on Romain was on damage control and tried to regain as many positions as possible, eventually managing to squeeze into the top ten.
The distinctive blue and white YZ was at the front of the pack around the tight chicane start in the second moto but an insecure period of ten minutes trying to find his lines and rhythm saw Febve lose ground to fifth. He later improved his speed to threaten the back of the battle between Bobryshev and Desalle but had to be content with his fourth top five finish of the year so far. Febvre sits fifth in the MXGP standings.
Yamaha could not count on Jeremy Van Horebeek at Valkenswaard. The Belgian has fractured a bone in his left foot and will be three weeks with a cast on his limb letting the break recover. JVH is due to remove the protection on May 11th one day after the Grand Prix of Spain and could be back in the paddock on active status for the British round two weeks later.
David Philippaerts took his DP19 Racing Yamaha YZ450F to seventeenth overall after crashing out of the first race. The 2008 world champion rode to a satisfactory ninth position in the qualification heat on Saturday for a decent pick in the gate. The Italian made a good start in the first outing and was challenging Shaun Simpson in the formative stages until he lost control cresting the troublesome double jump on the finish line straight and hurt his right hand and tweaked his neck. DP was able to ride the second moto however and collected nine points for twelfth after watching team-mate and teenage protégé Andrea Zanotti take his first points with a YZ125 in the EMX125 European Championship (with a nineteenth in the second moto). The veteran has now accumulated 68 points himself to allow him to occupy fifteenth in the MXGP championship.
After back-to-back events MXGP now breaks for a week and heads south through Europe to Talavera de la Reina – a short distance southwest from Madrid – for the Spanish Grand Prix on May 10th.
Romain Febvre – 10th and 5th for 7th overall. Championship: 5th
“I made a mistake on the first lap of the first race and was last. I came back to tenth and my speed was really good but I should have been in the top five. I’m really disappointed with the crash but I have only myself to blame. In the second heat I took the holeshot and finished fifth, and that is not so good either. It took me ten minutes to find my feeling and get some good lines. Fifth place is quite nice…but when you take the holeshot you need to stay at the front. We plan to do some testing next week and ride on hard pack for sure because we have Spain next and then UK and to France. We need laps on the hard-pack. I’m really happy about the improvement we made for our starts and the team did a great job.”
David Philippaerts – DNF and 12th for 17th overall. Championship: 15th
“Tough race and the track was difficult to handle in the first moto with many kickers and bumps on the jumps. It was pretty crazy. I had a big crash in the same place as some other riders and hurt my right hand and my neck a little bit. A shame because my speed was pretty good and I was right with Simpson. On the other side for us Andrea took his first European Championship points and we’ve been pushing for this, so that is an achievement for the team.”