Den efterlängtade årspremiären i Motocross-VM skedde under strålkastarskenet på Losail-banan under helgen, där Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing-föraren Romain Febvre körde till sig en tredjeplats i på pallen i MX2-klassen med sin FC 250. Febvres teamkamrat Aleksandr Tonkov slutade på en imponerande femte plats i helgens MX2-GP.
Trots sin häftiga krasch under kvalificeringen lyckades Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing-föraren Todd Waters göra anspråk på en 11:e-plats totalt i MXGP, medan hans teamkompis valde att stå över och rehabilitera sin finger-skada som han drog på sig tidigare under ett försäsongsrace i Italien.
I helgen körs årets andra deltävling i Motocross-VM, på Si Racha i Thailand.
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With Qatar marking the only night race of the 2014 series, Romain fought hard to secure his impressive results. Starting outside the top 15 in the opening MX2 race, the Frenchman determinedly battled his way forward to place fifth. Hoping to make life easier for himself in race two, Febvre again missed out on a top 10 start. Quickly finding a strong pace, the Husqvarna rider steadily worked his way forward and joined a five-rider battle for third. Moving into fourth position with six laps remaining he secured a well-deserved third overall result.
Claiming fifth overall, Tonkov ensured the GP of Qatar ended on a high for the Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team. Gating strongly in race one, the Russian held fifth position with three laps remaining. But with Febvre finding a way past in the closing stages, Tonkov was forced to settle for sixth.
In race two Tonkov got off to a great start, holding fourth place on lap one. Although enjoying the five-rider battle with Febvre, the Husqvarna pilot eventually slipped back one position to end the race in fifth.
Crashing heavily during Friday’s MXGP qualification race, Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Todd Wa- ters saw his debut ride in the Motocross World Champion- ship get off to a tough start. Suffering a high-speed fall in the tricky wave section Waters was unable to finish the race. Despite being battered and bruised the Australian gallantly lined up for the start of Saturday’s main events. Hampered by an outside gate pick in both races, Waters gritted his teeth and placed 14th in race one before improving to 11th in race two. He ended his first ever MXGP event in 11th overall.
Nursing an injured finger on his right hand, picked up during a pre-season race in Italy, Tyla Rattray bravely took to the start line for Friday’s qualification race. Despite qualifying in 13th position, Rattray opted not to further aggregate his injury and sat out the opening MXGP race of the season.
Romain Febvre: “I’m so happy to finish on the podium at the first race of the season. It’s a fantastic result for both the team and myself. We worked hard during the winter to be ready for Qatar and it’s showed. Unfortunately, I qualified 14th on Friday and had to work hard from an outside gate pick. But I was able to find some good lines and work my way inside the top five in both races. It feels incredible to leave Qatar with a podium result and I’m excited to try and improve next weekend in Thailand.”
Aleksandr Tonkov: “Fifth overall is a competitive start to the season. I’m really pleased with how I rode tonight. De- spite a bad gate pick my starts were great and I was running inside the top five on the first lap of each race. I’m a little disappointed to have lost some pace during the mid- way stages in the motos, but towards the end I began to find a fast rhythm again and was able to finish strongly. Next weekend is the GP of Thailand and although it will be hot I’m confident I can do better.”
Todd Waters: “It’s been a rough start to my MXGP ca- reer. I had a massive crash during qualification and was lucky not to get injured. Coming through the wave sec- tion the rider in front of me made a mistake and I had to take avoiding action – resulting in one of the biggest crashes I’ve had in a long time. I was quite beat up after it but was determined to compete in my first ever MXGP race. In race one I was still hurting but toughed out a 14th place result. I felt a bit better for race two but was struggling in with confidence in the track. Finishing 11th overall was a good improvement. Hopefully next week- end things will go smoother and I can finish inside the top 10 like I know I’m capable of.”