Herlings wins 49th GP, Febvre wins Thailand
FIM MX World Champs 2016
Romain Febvre of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory team has won the MXGP class in Thailand with 1-1 results. The Frenchman is looking good in the defence of his title, and leads the series points ahead of Tim Gajser and Evgeny Bobryshev.
Ben Townley Comment:
“I blew it. I made a mistake that caught me out of the blue. It was on the last roller and I was in the wrong gear. I was caught out by how slick it was and got ejected. I was up ready to salvage something but the radiator was damaged and I was lucky to make it back to the pits. In the second moto obviously the result was much better but it was tough. Someone jumped the gate beside me so I was late off the line. I started in sixth and worked my way up; I think I had a bit more spark than the other boys. In the end I gave everything I had and I had to talk myself through to the end. It was a mission. Overall I’m not concerned about the podium but the 18 points that I threw away. It’s really disappointing. We are still working on the bike quite a lot, and have made progress every session since starting in Qatar, but there is still work to do on the engine and suspension especially. Onto the next one.”
Race 1: In the opening MXGP moto it was Antonio Cairoli took the holeshot and led into the opening lap. He was followed by Tim Gajser, Ben Townley, Romain Febvre, Evgeny Bobryshev, Jeremy Van Horebeek, Christophe Charlier, Max Nagl, Tommy Searle, and Shaun Simpson in 10th.
Gajser nearly crashed as he closed in on Cairoli, but controls the bike to only lost one place to Townley. A little later Febvre pushed Gajser aside and moved into second place. Townley lost places and went back to fourth.
The top three were split by a small amount and this race was looking like it would liven up. Febvre was onto Cairoli and moves past for a fleeting second, because Cairoli takes him back. This like the master and the pupil as the former and present world champions go at it.
Gajser and Townley were still lurking in the background, ready to pounce. Cairoli picked up the pace and dropped Febvre, who was getting a little pressure from world MX2 champion Gajser.
Bobryshev not to be left out wasn’t that far behind Townley, while Paulin remained outside the top ten in 11th place. Searle and Simpson had moved up to 8th and 9th places.
Febvre who seems to have taken a rest was starting to gain on Cairoli again. Gajser, Townley, Bobryshev and now Van Horebeek were all close together behind the two lead riders.
After eight laps it was Cairoli, Febvre, Gajser, Townley, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Searle, Nagl, Paulin, Simpson, Coldenhoff, Charlier, Strijbos, Guillod, and Potisek in 15th. Townley out of the race as his bike expires with a broken radiator after a crash. He high sided through the waves but confirms he is ok.
Febvre passed Cairoli for the lead and Searle continued his charge, as he was now 6th. Simpson was back in 11th, and Desalle was in 16th.
A manic battle between Febvre, Gajser and Cairoli as they going at it. A brilliant race as there are so many different lines to choose from. Gajser goes past Cairoli but then makes a mistake and nearly crashes again.
After 16 laps it was Febvre, Cairoli, Gajser, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Searle, Paulin, Strijbos, Simpson and Charlier. Guillod moves into 11th, and Nagl is out down in 20th place.
Febvre gets the win from Cairoli and Gajser. A really nice race with the two world MXGP and MX2 champion battling hard with the legend Cairoli.
Race 2 : The second MXGP moto and drama as Cairoli, who entered the first corner in first, came out in second last place, only his KTM team-mate behind him as he got caught in the gate.
Febvre led from early leader Nagl, followed by Simpson, Guillod, Townley, Van Horebeek, Gajser, Bobryshev, Charlier and Searle in 10th place. Paulin also had problems in the opening lap and was down in 19th place.
Febvre was taking up from where he ended 2015, and with his confidence growing moved away from the pack. Simpson moved past Nagl for second place.
After two laps Febvre had nearly a two second lead over Simpson, Nagl is a further two seconds behind.
Townley was riding hard as he passes Nagl, and was quickly right onto Simpson, passing him soon after. Six seconds down on Febvre after four laps it would be hard work to catch the Frenchman and that proved to be the case.
Nagl was pushing Simpson who didn’t look that comfortable on this track. Top ten after five laps was Febvre, Townley, Simpson, Nagl, Van Horebeek, Gajser, Bobyshev, Guillod, Searle and Butron. Nagl got Simpson and Van Horebeek was also looking for a way past.
Febvre was on fire, an 11 second lead after eight laps, with Townley and Nagl close together in second and third. Cairoli is working hard in 14th place, Coldenhoff right behind him in 15th. Paulin continues to struggle in 11th and Desalle is back in 19th spot.
Van Horebeek passed Simpson, but not a lot happening. Febvre flexed his muscles and after 11 laps was 15 seconds ahead of Townley and a further three seconds ahead of Nagl. Simpson got passed by Gajser and Searle dropped back to 14th place.
Top ten after 15 laps was Febvre, Townley, Nagl, Van Horebeek, Gajser, Simpson, Bobryshev, Butron, Guillod and Paulin in 10th.
Febvre, totally exhausted rolls across the finish line for the moto and GP victory. Second in the moto was Townley, followed by Nagl, Van Horebeek, Gajser, Simpson, Bobryshev, Butron, Paulin and Guillod in 10th. Cairoli fought a gallant race to finish in 12th place.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1
1 1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA YAM 34:04.313
2 2 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 34:07.088
3 3 243 Gajser, Tim SLO HON 34:10.184
4 4 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS HON 34:22.353
5 5 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL YAM 34:26.271
6 6 100 Searle, Tommy GBR KAW 34:37.450
7 7 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA HON 34:40.438
8 8 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL SUZ 34:51.513
9 9 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR KTM 34:55.321
10 10 23 Charlier, Christophe FRA HUS 35:03.504
11 11 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI YAM 35:07.153
12 12 32 Potisek, Milko FRA YAM 35:09.456
13 13 17 Butron, Jose ESP KTM 35:17.899
14 14 77 Lupino, Alessandro ITA HON 35:20.912
15 15 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KTM 35:28.841
16 16 25 Desalle, Clement BEL KAW 35:35.018
17 17 7 Leok, Tanel EST KTM 34:12.662
18 18 400 Yamamoto, Kei JPN HON 34:14.596
19 19 31 Snow, Alex GBR YAM 35:39.838
20 20 171 Penjan, Thanarat THA HON 35:33.481
21 21 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER HUS 25:57.953
22 22 131 Romphan, Chaiyan THA YAM 31:26.160
23 23 8 Townley, Ben NZL SUZ 15:16.236
MXGP – Race 2
1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM Yamaha 34:41.154
2 8 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ Suzuki 34:47.192
3 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB Husqvarna 34:49.030
4 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB Yamaha 34:51.877
5 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS Honda 35:01.662
6 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU KTM 35:04.479
7 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MUL Honda 35:13.509
8 17 Butron, Jose ESP RFME KTM 35:17.383
9 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM Honda 35:19.330
10 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS Yamaha 35:22.286
11 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB Suzuki 35:24.201
12 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 35:29.086
13 77 Lupino, Alessandro ITA FMI Honda 35:31.398
14 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU Kawasaki 35:38.057
15 32 Potisek, Milko FRA FFM Yamaha 35:45.924
16 23 Charlier, Christophe FRA FFM Husqvarna 35:53.348
17 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF KTM 36:23.777
18 400 Yamamoto, Kei JPN FMI Honda 36:43.188
19 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 34:43.302
20 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB Kawasaki 34:52.020
21 31 Snow, Alex GBR ACU Yamaha 35:04.853
22 131 Romphan, Chaiyan THA FMSCT Yamaha 36:33.631
23 171 Penjan, Thanarat THA FMSCT Honda 36:15.025
MXGP – Overall Classification
1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM YAM 25 25 50
2 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS HON 20 16 36
3 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB YAM 16 18 34
4 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MUL HON 18 14 32
5 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 22 9 31
6 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU KTM 12 15 27
7 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM HON 14 12 26
8 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB SUZ 13 10 23
9 8 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ SUZ 0 22 22
10 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU KAW 15 7 22
11 17 Butron, Jose ESP RFME KTM 8 13 21
12 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS YAM 10 11 21
13 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB HUS 0 20 20
14 23 Charlier, Christophe FRA FFM HUS 11 5 16
15 77 Lupino, Alessandro ITA FMI HON 7 8 15
16 32 Potisek, Milko FRA FFM YAM 9 6 15
17 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF KTM 4 4 8
18 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 6 2 8
19 400 Yamamoto, Kei JPN FMI HON 3 3 6
20 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB KAW 5 1 6
21 31 Snow, Alex GBR ACU YAM 2 0 2
22 171 Penjan, Thanarat THA FMSCT HON 1 0 1
23 131 Romphan, Chaiyan THA FMSCT YAM 0 0 0
MXGP – Championship Classification
1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA YAM 92
2 243 Gajser, Tim SLO HON 86
3 777 Bobryshev, E. RUS HON 74
4 89 Van Horebeek, J. BEL YAM 68
5 222 Cairoli, A. ITA KTM 64
6 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR KTM 57
7 22 Strijbos, K. BEL SUZ 48
8 100 Searle, Tommy GBR KAW 47
9 12 Nagl, M. GER HUS 44
10 8 Townley, Ben NZL SUZ 42
11 21 Paulin, G. FRA HON 37
12 92 Guillod, V. SUI YAM 37
13 17 Butron, Jose ESP KTM 35
14 259 Coldenhoff, G. NED KTM 33
15 32 Potisek, Milko FRA YAM 28
Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings won his 49th Grand Prix and his second in 2016 with victory today in the MX2 class at the Grand Prix of Thailand. In front of a nice sized crowd and in 40 degree temperatures the Dutchman continues his control of the 250 class.
He will now head to Valkenswaard and try and match the great Joel Robert for 50 GP wins. Seems unlikely he won’t get it, as he goes for win number seven in a row at the legendary sand track.
Second overall was Jeremy Seewer and third Alexandr Tonkov.
In the opening moto Herlings took the early lead as his team-mate Pauls Jonass crashed out in the second corner. The order after the first few corners was Herlings, Paturel, Tonkov, Bernardini, Anstie, Seewer, Petrov, Zaragoza, Covington, and Watson in 10th.
Covington despite being sick from food poisoning moved into fourth place, and Anstie dropped to 16th. Watson also moved backwards in 17th place.
Tonkov and Paturel were in a massive battle for with the Russian moving past into second. Top ten after Herlings with a lead of 12 seconds, ahead of Tonkov, Paturel, Convington, Seewer, Bernardini, Petrov, Oslund, Bogers, and Brylyakov.
Ansties motor stops and he is out of the race.
Paturel is finding the going tough as Seewer moves up on him and started to pressure for third.
Herlings gets the win from Tonkov, Seewer, Paturel and a brave Covington.
The second moto was a wild one for Herlings who first got caught out in the start and came into the first corner around 10th. The Dutchman then moved quickly into third place, but nearly crashed while passing Bernardini for second place.
Thomas Covington had down down in turn two and was miles back in 23rd place. Up front Jonass was leading with his team-mate right on his tail. Further back came Herlings, Bernardini, Tonkov, Zaragoza, Boogers, Seewer, Ostlund, Paturel, and Anstie.
On lap three Herlings moved past Jonass to take the lead. Tonkov passed Bernardini, and Anstie was up to 9th after passing Ostlund. Tonkov was making good ground on Jonass for second place.
Tonkov went down and dropped well back to 8th place. Herlings is clocking lap times four seconds quicker than the others.
After 10 laps ot was Herlings, Jonass, Seewer, Bernardini, Zaragoza, Paturel, Anstie, Tonkov, Ostlund and Bogers in 10th.
Anstie was on the charge, moving into fifth position on lap 11, while Bernardini dropped to 9thposition. Anstie was still making ground moving into third place as Jonass dropped to fifth.
Not a lot happening in the late stages of the moto, on lap 16 Herlings leads by 28 seconds and is in cruise mode, second is Seewer, then Anstie, Jonass, Tonkov, Paturel, Zaragoza, Ostlund, Van doninck, and Bernardini in 10th place.
Herlings wins it by 24 seconds from Anstie, Seewer, Tonkov, Jonass, Paturel, Ostlund, Zaragoza, Van doninck, and Brylyakov.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1
1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 34:33.241
2 59 Tonkov, Aleksandr RUS KNMV Yamaha 35:05.474
3 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Suzuki 35:10.524
4 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM Yamaha 35:14.476
5 64 Covington, Thomas USA AMA Husqvarna 35:32.950
6 152 Petrov, Petar BUL QMMF Kawasaki 35:45.827
7 18 Brylyakov, Vsevolod RUS MFR Kawasaki 35:59.470
8 321 Bernardini, Samuele ITA FMI TM 36:07.791
9 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT LAMSF KTM 36:12.633
10 95 Justs, Roberts LAT LAMSF KTM 34:36.026
11 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO Yamaha 34:36.137
12 101 Zaragoza, Jorge ESP RFME Honda 35:04.433
13 132 Kutsar, Karel EST EMF KTM 35:09.881
14 251 Getteman, Jens BEL FMB KTM 35:29.140
15 97 Ivanov, Maykal Grisha BUL QMMF KTM 35:38.791
16 88 van der Vlist, Freek NED KNMV Kawasaki 35:53.615
17 71 Graulus, Damon BEL FMB Honda 36:12.218
18 500 Yasuhara, Nozomu JPN MFJ Yamaha 36:26.522
19 189 Bogers, Brian NED KNMV KTM 32:56.164
20 28 Hallgren, Ben THA FMSCT Yamaha 34:48.961
21 52 Ueda, Shota JPN MFJ Kawasaki 34:53.750
22 919 Watson, Ben GBR ACU Husqvarna 35:04.621
23 888 Xu, Jian Hao CHN CMSA Kawasaki 36:33.300
24 76 Jomjaturong, Jaturong THA FMSCT Suzuki 36:47.279
25 99 Anstie, Max GBR ACU Husqvarna 14:32.385
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2
1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 34:48.194
2 99 Anstie, Max GBR ACU Husqvarna 35:13.148
3 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Suzuki 35:15.048
4 59 Tonkov, Aleksandr RUS KNMV Yamaha 35:27.830
5 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT LAMSF KTM 35:32.128
6 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM Yamaha 35:38.880
7 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO Yamaha 36:18.819
8 172 Van doninck, Brent BEL FMB Yamaha 36:23.407
9 18 Brylyakov, Vsevolod RUS MFR Kawasaki 36:24.318
10 152 Petrov, Petar BUL QMMF Kawasaki 36:28.100
11 101 Zaragoza, Jorge ESP RFME Honda 36:53.768
12 321 Bernardini, Samuele ITA FMI TM 37:09.767
13 95 Justs, Roberts LAT LAMSF KTM 34:48.846
14 919 Watson, Ben GBR ACU Husqvarna 34:55.463
15 189 Bogers, Brian NED KNMV KTM 35:08.205
16 132 Kutsar, Karel EST EMF KTM 35:30.114
17 71 Graulus, Damon BEL FMB Honda 35:41.957
18 97 Ivanov, Maykal Grisha BUL QMMF KTM 36:07.208
19 500 Yasuhara, Nozomu JPN MFJ Yamaha 36:15.576
20 52 Ueda, Shota JPN MFJ Kawasaki 36:29.465
21 28 Hallgren, Ben THA FMSCT Yamaha 35:10.669
22 88 van der Vlist, Freek NED KNMV Kawasaki 36:13.666
23 888 Xu, Jian Hao CHN CMSA Kawasaki 35:50.091
24 251 Getteman, Jens BEL FMB KTM 14:37.650
25 76 Jomjaturong, Jaturong THA FMSCT Suzuki 18:44.507
26 64 Covington, Thomas USA AMA Husqvarna 5:50.807
MX2 – GP Classification
1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 25 25 50
2 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS SUZ 20 20 40
3 59 Tonkov, Aleksandr RUS KNMV YAM 22 18 40
4 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM YAM 18 15 33
5 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT LAMSF KTM 12 16 28
6 18 Brylyakov, Vsevolod RUS MFR KAW 14 12 26
7 152 Petrov, Petar BUL QMMF KAW 15 11 26
8 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO YAM 10 14 24
9 99 Anstie, Max GBR ACU HUS 0 22 22
10 321 Bernardini, Samuele ITA FMI TM 13 9 22
11 101 Zaragoza, Jorge ESP RFME HON 9 10 19
12 95 Justs, Roberts LAT LAMSF KTM 11 8 19
13 64 Covington, Thomas USA AMA HUS 16 0 16
14 172 Van doninck, Brent BEL FMB YAM 0 13 13
15 132 Kutsar, Karel EST EMF KTM 8 5 13
16 97 Ivanov, Maykal Grisha BUL QMMF KTM 6 3 9
17 189 Bogers, Brian NED KNMV KTM 2 6 8
18 71 Graulus, Damon BEL FMB HON 4 4 8
19 919 Watson, Ben GBR ACU HUS 0 7 7
20 251 Getteman, Jens BEL FMB KTM 7 0 7
21 500 Yasuhara, Nozomu JPN MFJ YAM 3 2 5
22 88 van der Vlist, Freek NED KNMV KAW 5 0 5
23 52 Ueda, Shota JPN MFJ KAW 0 1 1
24 28 Hallgren, Ben THA FMSCT YAM 1 0 1
25 888 Xu, Jian Hao CHN CMSA KAW 0 0 0
26 76 Jomjaturong, Jaturong THA FMSCT SUZ 0 0 0
27 93 Somsawat, Phanuphong THA FMSCT KAW 0 0 0
28 29 Jacobi, Henry GER DMSB HON 0 0 0
MX2 – World Championship Classification
1 84 Herlings, J. NED KTM 100
2 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI SUZ 74
3 59 Tonkov, A. RUS YAM 70
4 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT KTM 68
5 152 Petrov, Petar BUL KAW 56
6 321 Bernardini, S. ITA TM 47
7 6 Paturel, B. FRA YAM 46
8 4 Ferrandis, D. FRA KAW 44
9 172 Van doninck, B. BEL YAM 44
10 18 Brylyakov, V. RUS KAW 38
11 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE YAM 37
12 99 Anstie, Max GBR HUS 33
13 64 Covington, T. USA HUS 32
14 101 Zaragoza, J. ESP HON 30
15 189 Bogers, Brian NED KTM 25
16 251 Getteman, Jens BEL KTM 24
17 919 Watson, Ben GBR HUS 21
18 71 Graulus, Damon BEL HON 20
19 95 Justs, Roberts LAT KTM 19
20 132 Kutsar, Karel EST KTM 19