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MXGP, MXGP OF SWEDEN - Uddevalla, SWEDEN, 7 Augusti 2022

Romain Febvre narrowly misses the podium in Sweden

Romain Febvre of  Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP finished fourth in the Swedish round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Uddevalla.

A ragged start in the first moto left the Frenchman seventh after the opening lap and, with overtaking exceedingly difficult, he remained there until the very last lap when he was able to force a move for sixth. A top-three start in race two opened the possibility of a podium finish overall but once again passing proved extremely difficult. A single pass would have secured the podium and the Kawasaki rider came frustratingly close to passing the series points-leader ahead of him on a couple of occasions but he again had to be satisfied with the status quo to miss the podium by a single point.
 
 Romain Febvre: “Today it was even more difficult than usual to make a pass; we saw that there were not so many passes by anyone in either race. It was frustrating because it was so difficult to pass anyone unless the rider in front of you made a mistake. I was unhappy with my first start as the gate moved a little before it finally dropped and that cost me; I could make some passes during the first lap but then there was nothing to do and I stayed seventh until I could finally make a move on the last lap. I had a good speed in the second race and nearly passed Gajser a couple of times but he didn’t make any mistakes and I was stuck in third. Next weekend the track will be different; I raced there a few years ago and it’s sandy but not deep sand. I have the speed now and I can keep the same rhythm throughout the entire moto so with a good start I know that it’s possible to offer the team a win or at least a podium."
 
KX450-SR power helped KRT teammate Ben Watson make a tremendous start in race one from the disadvantageous gate he had been handed after a fall in Qualifying but a difficult first two laps saw him quickly pushed back to mid-pack. Gradually building his rhythm he set his best laps during the second-half to pull back to thirteenth at the finish. An incident on the opening lap of race two when he landed unsighted on a fallen rider left the Englishman at the back of the pack but he recovered admirably to finish fourteenth. He remains twelfth in the series standings.
 
Ben Watson: “It was quite a tough weekend. I expected more after Loket because they are pretty similar tracks but I made a small mistake in Qualifying so I didn’t have the best of gate-picks for today. I got a great start in race one but I just got destroyed through the first two laps to go backwards from fourth to fifteenth; I just didn’t have the intensity in the opening laps and that was so important here. I had some better laps at the end of the race so I was quietly confident for race two but my start wasn’t the best this time and then there was an unfortunate incident when I landed on Renaux on the first lap. I made some good passes from the back but the result wasn’t what I wanted. “
 
F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jed Beaton was moving forward from midfield starts in each moto until incidents cost him dearly and he had to be content with nineteenth and eighteenth placings at the chequered flag. The Australian remains seventeenth in the points standings.