ROMAIN ROCKET
By Team TMX on 8th Jul 15
Young guns fire again as hotshots Febvre & Gajser lead charge
There was a fourth straight MXGP win for Romain Febvre and an MX2 hat-trick for Tim Gajser in Uddevalla as the youngsters continued to turn the MX world championships on its head.
The Frenchman now leads Tony Cairoli by 39 points and the Slovenian has narrowed the gap on Jeffrey Herlings to 78.
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the Brits. Shaun Simpson stormed to a first moto third in MXGP, Tommy Searle needed stitches but there were points for Nathan and Ben Watson, a seventh for Max Anstie, a second moto 15th for Jake Nicholls and Adam Sterry is still in the EMX250 title hunt after securing fifth overall.
The teams were delighted to head north to escape the central European heatwave but it was blue skies from 4am to midnight in Sweden too as temperatures soared. The baked ground would not take water and the resultant skating rink caused havoc among the world's best.
"It's likeriding on ice,” explained an exasperated Jeremy Van Horebeek despite completing a Yamaha 1-2 with Febvre. "They needed to rip it and water on Thursday.”
According to Herlings he had arrived simply to salvage some points but the wily Dutchman responded to every challenge from Gajser in race one for a minimal effort victory with Valentin Guillod a long way back despite posting the strongest laps in the second half.
After gating well Max Anstie got pushed out in the long, sweeping first turn and had to discard his goggles after getting filled in. Following a pit stop for fresh goggles he was still outside the points when he pulled in while Ben Watson drifted around the final points all moto for 19th.
Herlings's determination to get to the front quickly in race two was his downfall as he washed out on the slippery exit to the long sweeping first turn.
The pack missed him but his fall was so awkward that the middle joint of his little finger on his left hand was ripped out of its socket and a deep wound almost took it off.
First race faller Jeremy Seewer and Jordi Tixier, eliminated earlier in the day when the rear subframe came adrift, disputed the lead for three laps before Gajser came storming past them both.
"The team has been working really hard and our string of victories is the result,” said Gajser. "I'm trying not to think about the championship yet – I just want to keep improving.”
Anstie converted a first lap 14th into seventh and a top 10 start brought Ben Watson 12th at the chequered flag.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICS SEE TMX NEWS, THURSDAY JULY 9, (ISSUE 1979)
