Kawasaki rider Romain Febvre didn’ t take the easy road to the overall MX1 win, battling career-long arch-rival Tim Gajser and winning the race out of the final corner by half a second to take the race win and the overall round glory( 4-1) after both had bad starts in the opening moto that saw sand ace and rookie in the class this season, Lucas Coenen, check out from the field. A small off towards the end of the race didn’ t unsettle the youngster as his lead of over ten seconds meant he had all the time in the world to get back and finish with daylight between his closest competition. Making the starts hard for the eventual winners was Jeremy Seewer, whose Ducati scored the holeshot in both motos but he was unable to hold the lead in the sand against Belgian Coenen in the first moto and then the two‘ old hands’ of Febvre and Gajser who ground it out at the front for the second moto of the round. GASGAS rider, Glenn Coldenhoff, secured a 2-3 result for second on the day and Gajser rounded out the podium with his 5-2 effort and still holds a 34-point buffer over Febvre in the standings so far.
VAN DRUNEN SWEEPS ROUND 1
Reigning FIM Women’ s World Champion and sand specialist, Yamaha-mounted van Drunen, put on a masterclass in the deep sand of Riola Sardo. The 17 year-old( yup – 17) World Champion was ill leading up to the weekend and exclaimed she lost 3kg in that week and wasn’ t even sure she would be fit to compete. On the day though, she was untouchable, never looking threatened as she gapped the field for a perfect scoresheet. Heading to the next round, which is hard pack and bumpy, she will be racing MX2 in Trentino as a perfect buildup. It won’ t be her first foray into MX2 against the guys, she scored points in Lommel at the last outing she had in the class and the stellar teen hinted that it won’ t be her last MX2 cameo. The hard racing against the top men gives her the intense competitive‘ bar-to-‘ bar racing she really wants on the hard, demanding circuit and although she won’ t let on about any expectations, expect her to fighting for positions and points all the way to the flag.