Romain Febvre: 14th GP Victory

Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Romain Febvre knows how to win an overall, he has done it now on 14 occasions at Grand Prix level and has that 2015 MXGP World championship to his name, not to mention a handful of Monster Energy Motocross of Nations moto wins and team victories.

The Frenchman though has like many riders fought through the pain of injury and disappointment, but this week around the white sand of Mantova, he has looked more than a little comfortable and while the opening GP in Mantova didn’t go to plan, he could feel something good was about to happen.

“It was a tough GP for me,” Febvre said about last Sunday. “At the start of the first race another rider changed his line, so my start was not good at all! I was in the pack and came back through to tenth; it could have been better, but I could never find a spot to pass Gajser even though I was much faster than him. My second start was really good; I was in second position and tried everywhere to pass Prado but once more it was so difficult to make a pass stick and finally Gajser got me. I finished third but lost two positions due to a yellow flag.”

Then, after having to wait what seemed like forever, the French rider took his 14^th Grand Prix victory on Wednesday and is starting to look a little more like the rider who had claimed that World title and all those GP wins.

“It is so nice to win again,” Febvre said. “I have been waiting for this moment all season and I knew it was only a matter of time! We did a wonderful job with the team since I joined them. Until today the speed was always there but that last small factor was missing to get podiums; sometimes I crashed, sometimes there was race incidents, but finally today I had all the pieces of the puzzle. The first race went well; I was feeling good and I was ready to attack the two leaders but then I developed some arm-pump as I was riding too tense. I felt that third was my place, so I didn’t try anything stupid. My second start was perfect! I got the holeshot from the inside gate and that always makes life easier as you can ride your own race; I was sure that I could win on this track if I didn’t make any mistakes. Tim (Gajser) tried several times to challenge me but it was not easy to pass here and in the end he made a mistake; after that I had no more pressure - though I have to admit I felt some stress when I was alone leading the race - but I knew that I had the win in my hands and we did it. A big thanks to the team who have always been behind me; they work so hard and I have so much fun riding this bike. My first victory with Kawasaki but hopefully not the last!"

And now heading into the final of three GPs at Mantova, Febvre has the confidence to go on with the job and pull himself back up into the top five in the World. Currently in sixth place, another victory on Sunday would sure make that top five dream a little more like reality.