Febvre celebrates seventh Grand Prix victory with dominance in Mexico

MXGP MEXICO - ROUND 17     Leon MXGP Race Report - 14/09/2015 Febvre celebrates seventh Grand Prix victory with dominance in Mexico MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre used his works Yamaha Factory Racing YZ450FM to plough through muddy conditions and score his seventh victory (and fourth double) at Leon for the Grand Prix of Mexico and the second-to-last round of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship. 32,000 spectators braved the largely wet and slippery circuit in the Parque Metropolitano as thunderstorms and heavy rain threatened a washout. On a drier and warmer Saturday Febvre made good use of recent tests in the wake of his fantastic title success at Assen to blast to his third Pole Position of the season with a commanding performance across the fast hard-pack. Teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek was unlucky to suffer a fall on the first lap that meant he needed to charge through the diminished pack (the entry list hindered by injury) to eighth. The terrain and playing field changed entirely after Saturday evening's weather reversal. First into the gate Febvre knew he had to ride a smart race even if it wasn't the quickest. The new No.1 unveiled a performance of both virtues. In second place on the first lap he chased Glenn Coldenhoff until the Dutchman made a mistake and crashed. Enjoying the challenge of the track he then pulled away from Shaun Simpson to win by more than forty-five seconds: it was his thirteenth moto chequered flag of the year. Van Horebeek didn't make the best getaway and endured to seventh position. Sunshine did its best to dry the track for the second moto and the depth of the wet mud meant that the course carved into an attackable plethora of lines and ruts. Febvre again gated well and nestled into second place behind Gautier Paulin. On lap two he overtook his countryman and Motocross of Nations teammate to again pull away to triumph comfortably. The race saw a more effective Jeremy Van Horebeek with the Belgian part of a five-rider tussle for second place. The former championship runner-up started in third position and ended the moto in fourth for an improved feeling and fourth overall. '461' is number one thanks to his unbreakable margin in the points. He has now accumulated 688 due to his twelve consecutive podium finishes and seven victories. Van Horebeek hovers in sixth with a sixteen point gap to Max Nagl in fifth. DP19 Yamaha Racing's David Philippaerts was not present in Mexico as the Italian has undergone an operation on his right elbow. Yamaha will now move north and west across the continent to the United States and California where the revered Glen Helen circuit will host its third U.S. Grand Prix this century and bring the 2015 series to a close. Romain Febvre 1st and 1st for 1st overall. Championship position: 1st "I am so happy to win both motos here. I felt good all weekend on this track even if this morning it was really muddy. I enjoyed it. We had some time off after Assen and we did some tests and made some improvements on our starts so that's a really good point [from today]. We are already working for next year because the championship is already won. We can try different things and even if they are not working then it is not so bad; for sure this weekend it worked very well. The first race was muddy and it stuck to the bike a lot. The second moto was like how a track should be - many lines - and I enjoyed it." Jeremy Van Horebeek 7th and 4th for 4th overall. Championship position: 6th "Much better second moto…but I am still struggling with the starts. I was lucky in the second moto because Simpson went straight-on around the first turn and I cut behind everybody. So my starts are still a weak point and everybody can see that when I get away with the leaders I can stay there. I lost a position to fourth but I had run out of tear-offs. Overall I'm not happy about the weekend. I don't know what to say. I know I can do it [product the results] and people can see it, but the package is not coming together at the moment. We'll keep going and the season is almost done. We'll have a break and then full-focus on 2016." 2015 MXGP Mexico Leon 14/09/2015 race I 1 Romain Febvre Yamaha FRA 36'35.450  2 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'45.231  3 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 1'14.599  4 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 1'22.649  5 Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NLD 1'26.466  6 Dean Ferris Husqvarna AUS 2'06.200  7 Jeremy Van Horebeek Yamaha BEL 2'08.975  8 Maximilian Nagl Husqvarna DE 2'20.819  9 Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP -1Laps  10 Tyla Rattray Kawasaki ZAF -1Laps  11 Todd Waters Husqvarna AUS -1Laps  12 Adam Sterry KTM GBR -1Laps  13 Kei Yamamoto Honda JPN -2Laps  14 Andres Benenaula Honda ECU -2Laps  15 Alexis Garza Kawasaki MEX -4Laps  16 Eduardo Andrade Yamaha MEX -6Laps  race II 1 Romain Febvre Yamaha FRA 35'32.826  2 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'02.302  3 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 0'04.833  4 Jeremy Van Horebeek Yamaha BEL 0'06.685  5 Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NLD 0'08.990  6 Maximilian Nagl Husqvarna DE 0'11.136  7 Tyla Rattray Kawasaki ZAF 0'12.221  8 Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 0'13.728  9 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 0'37.447  10 Dean Ferris Husqvarna AUS 0'39.006  11 Todd Waters Husqvarna AUS 0'40.693  12 Adam Sterry KTM GBR 0'49.953  13 Kei Yamamoto Honda JPN 1'39.806  14 Andres Benenaula Honda ECU -1Laps  15 Alexis Garza Kawasaki MEX -1Laps  17 Eduardo Andrade Yamaha MEX -3Laps  MXGP World Standing Rider Standings After Race 17 of 19 1. Romain Febvre Yamaha FRA 688 2. Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 566 3. Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 539 4. Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 481 5. Maximilian Nagl Husqvarna DE 442 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek Yamaha BEL 426 7. Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 416 8. Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NLD 393 9. Todd Waters Husqvarna AUS 344 10. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 331 11. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 287 12. Dean Ferris Husqvarna AUS 284 13. Tyla Rattray Kawasaki ZAF 263 14. Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 217 15. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 185 16. Christophe Charlier Honda FRA 183 33. Jeffrey DeWulf Yamaha BEL 21 37. Cedric Soubeyras Yamaha FRA 15 39. Matevz Irt Yamaha SVN 13 43. Pier Bertuzzo Yamaha ITA 12 48. Eduardo Andrade Yamaha MEX 9 49. Mike Vanderstraeten Yamaha BEL 9 52. Paul Coates Yamaha GBR 7 65. Alfie Smith Yamaha GBR 1 69. Lewis Gregory Yamaha GBR 0 Circuit Length: Last Years Winner: Gautier Paulin Paturel takes landmark first Grand Prix podium finish in Mexico The Grand Prix of Mexico brought the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship up to the penultimate round of eighteen on the calendar and the rain-hit circuit of Leon - entertaining MXGP for the second year in a row - was the scene for Kemea Yamaha Yamalube's Benoit Paturel to plough through the mud to third place and record his first podium finish in his rookie GP term. The trophy and celebration represented the second rostrum achievement on the bounce for the Belgian team. Poor weather before the event and then on Saturday evening after a dry practice and qualification schedule (where Lieber finished a decent second on his YZ250F) meant the Mexican terrain kept shifting in terms of the demands it forced. The high altitude of the venue - some 1800m above sea level - meant that the team already had to work on engine configuration to achieve the best power and performance. The first moto on Sunday saw Paturel quickly find third position. The thirty minute and two lap sprint was an exercise of caution, luck and consistency. There was little action of note on the track but Paturel showed maturity to keep his YZ250F the right way up and enter the top three of a Grand Prix of the first time in his career. Elsewhere Standing Construct Yamaha's Julien Lieber was one of many fallers and retired with a technical problem. Teammate Valentin Guillod was nursing a weak right shoulder after his crash two weeks previously at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands. The Swiss had a tough time after being caught in Petar Petrov's first corner pile-up and several mistakes pushed him down to tenth position and two laps behind the leaders. Brent Van Doninck was also involved in the Petrov melee and then fell on the last lap to belatedly cross the line in ninth. There was a gaggle of Yamahas disputing third position in the second moto. The track had dried and become quicker and more varied in line choice and options for the riders. Paturel was again in the mix but he also had a lively Lieber and Guillod for company. Eventually Lieber made third place his own (ninth overall) and was chased by the Swiss (sixth overall) and then Paturel who had enough points with fifth to walk the podium. Van Doninck (fourteenth at the end of the day) was disappointed to suffer a mechanical glitch that ended his moto prematurely. Romain Febvre has clinched the MXGP series on his YZ450FM but the MX2 contest still has to be settled. Pauls Jonass and Tim Gajser are disputing the number one plate and Guillod can still rest in third place if he can outpoint Max Anstie by 31 at Glen Helen. '92' is eight points in front of Jeremy Seewer. Lieber is now up to seventh, Paturel in ninth and Van Doninck is twelfth, although he missed two rounds through injury. The Monster Energy U.S. Grand Prix is the eighteenth and final appointment on the FIM slate for 2015 and will take the series into the hills around San Bernardino where the layout of Glen Helen snakes around the sharp slopes. Benoit Paturel 3rd and 5th for 3rd overall. Championship position: 9th "This is incredible for me. Last year I had nothing and Hans Corver and Marnicq Bervoets took me into their team. I progressed step-by-step and I'm happy about that. I have such a good sensation with this first podium and I think for every rider it feels the same. I don't really know what else to say! The team works really hard every day and they really perform. We have factory engines and I have everything I need to progress. I hope to be better for next year." Julien Lieber 14th and 3rd for 9th overall. Championship position: 7th "Every week I seem to have missed a podium chance! The first moto here was horrible. I had some crashes after a bad start, broke the bike and finished fourteenth. The second race was pretty good and I moved up from eighth. Third was a good position. I saw Jonass' big crash so I feel lucky to have finished the day healthy." Valentin Guillod 10th and 4th for 6th overall. Championship position: 4th "The track was better in the second moto. In the first…it was not really the conditions that I like! I had a crash at the start because someone touched my bars and I couldn't turn so I headed straight into the mud. I came back but had another two falls, one when a guy took away my front wheel. It really wasn't good. They had worked on the track for the second moto and I was feeling better but I really did not want to crash again. I still made a few mistakes but came back through well to fourth, which, overall, is a bit better than the last few GPs. We'll ride on Wednesday before Glen Helen and try to make it to the podium there." Brent Van Doninck 9th and 16th for 14th overall. Championship position: 12th "I had a pretty good start in the first race but I think it was Petrov who made a mistake on the start straight and took three riders down. I went straight into all the mud they had scraped away and I was totally covered. I couldn't even hold the bars so I came into the pits to change my gloves. I was a long way behind and kept going to reach ninth but then crashed on the last lap and took forever to start the bike. I started well in the second race and was in seventh - behind Guillod - but the bike started to lose a bit of power. I had to pull in. I'm so disappointed about this weekend. I didn't have a good feeling, only really in the second moto. I hope I have more luck in Glen Helen." 2015 MX2 Mexico Leon 14/09/2015 race I 1 Pauls Jonass KTM LVA 35'48.318  2 Max Anstie Kawasaki GBR 0'04.477  3 Benoit Paturel Yamaha FRA 0'26.170  4 Thomas Covington Kawasaki USA 0'32.672  5 Tim Gajser Honda SVN 0'34.821  6 Harri Kullas Husqvarna FIN -1Laps  7 Calvin Vlaanderen KTM NLD -1Laps  8 Jeremy Seewer Suzuki CHE -1Laps  9 Brent Vandoninck Yamaha BEL -2Laps  10 Valentin Guillod Yamaha CHE -2Laps  11 Brian Bogers KTM NLD -2Laps  12 Nahuel Kriger Yamaha ARG -5Laps  13 Samuele Bernardini TM ITA -6Laps  14 Julien Lieber Yamaha BEL -6Laps  15 Ivo Monticelli KTM ITA -7Laps  17 Alejandro Rugerio Yamaha MEX -13Laps  race II 1 Thomas Covington Kawasaki USA 34'34.352  2 Tim Gajser Honda SVN 0'06.836  3 Julien Lieber Yamaha BEL 0'22.502  4 Valentin Guillod Yamaha CHE 0'24.846  5 Benoit Paturel Yamaha FRA 0'25.601  6 Calvin Vlaanderen KTM NLD 0'45.919  7 Jeremy Seewer Suzuki CHE 1'03.913  8 Harri Kullas Husqvarna FIN 1'14.447  9 Ivo Monticelli KTM ITA 1'46.917  10 Samuele Bernardini TM ITA 2'00.450  11 Max Anstie Kawasaki GBR -1Laps  12 Brian Bogers KTM NLD -1Laps  13 Pauls Jonass KTM LVA -1Laps  14 Nahuel Kriger Yamaha ARG -2Laps  15 Alejandro Rugerio Yamaha MEX -4Laps  16 Brent Vandoninck Yamaha BEL -7Laps  MX2 World Standing Rider Standings After Race 17 of 19 1. Tim Gajser Honda SVN 556 2. Pauls Jonass KTM LVA 538 3. Max Anstie Kawasaki GBR 506 4. Valentin Guillod Yamaha CHE 475 5. Jeremy Seewer Suzuki CHE 467 6. Jeffrey Herlings KTM NLD 423 7. Julien Lieber Yamaha BEL 418 8. Jordi Tixier Kawasaki FRA 393 9. Benoit Paturel Yamaha FRA 356 10. Petar Petrov KTM BGR 304 11. Brian Bogers KTM NLD 298 12. Thomas Covington Kawasaki USA 272 13. Brent Vandoninck Yamaha BEL 265 14. Aleksandr Tonkov Husqvarna RUS 256 15. Dylan Ferrandis Kawasaki FRA 205 16. Ivo Monticelli KTM ITA 182 29. Damon Graulus Yamaha BEL 33 32. Kevin Fors Yamaha BEL 28 41. Alejandro Rugerio Yamaha MEX 10 61. Yannis Irsuti Yamaha FRA 0 Circuit Length: Last Years Winner: Tim Gajser

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