VOL. 53 ISSUE 9 MARCH 8, 2016 P19
fifth but had to pull out of the
second due to an illness that
has stopped him eating and
sleeping the past few days.
While the MXGP class looked
like a more open affair after
Saturday's competitive qualifica-
tion races, it slowly turned into
the Romain Febvre show as the
French champion went 1-1 in
some pretty brutal conditions. In
the first moto he made his way
up from fourth place, passing
Townley and Qatar winner Tim
Gajser early on before stalk-
ing leader Antonio Cairoli. With
the clock ticking down, Febvre
made the move on the Italian
and despite a couple of close
moments, held on for victory.
The second race was much
more clear-cut, as Febvre got
to the front and checked out
while his rivals struggled on the
first couple of laps. Townley
worked his way into second but
is way down in the champion-
ship due to a first-moto DNF
after a nasty crash.
Gajser is still looking impres-
sive in his rookie MXGP cam-
paign, backing up his overall
victory in Qatar with a second
overall in Thailand. It's certainly
a marked improvement from last
year's Thai experience when he
wasn't allowed to ride the second
moto due to heat exhaustion.
Rounding off the podium was
Jeremy van Horebeek who has
now put in four solid motos,
without ever looking spectacular
and while he'd definitely like to
get a race podium sooner rather
than later, at this stage in the
season it is just about staying in
the running.
Febvre now holds the red
plate once more, sitting six
points ahead of Gajser with
Evgeny Bobryshev (4-7) in third.
Former-champ Cairoli is 28
points behind Febvre, with a
second moto stall on the first lap
costing him dearly in the champi-
onship standings. Now, though,
there is a two-week break before
the series resumes at the Dutch
sand track of Valkenswaard
where temperatures should be
lot cooler.
David Bulmer
Jeffrey
Herlings had
little difficulties
winning the
MX2 class.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KTM/RAY
ARCHER
