The slippery chewed up clay of Loket made for tight lap times and edge of your seat racing for everyone except Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre who was in a league of his own this weekend as he blitzed his way to a double race victory for his fifth MXGP overall of the season.

Meanwhile in MX2, Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod used his unique and creative line choice to land on the top step of the box for the third time this year.

MXGP

Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s exceptional young rookie strengthened his MXGP title campaign this weekend in impressive style and now leads Team HRC’s Gautier Paulin by a whopping 88 points.

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Although the young Frenchman has taken the world by storm, he still remains very humble, “I am excited for the title, but I was already happy with third place in MX2 last year, now I am battling for the title in MXGP on my first year. So it is exciting but I know there are still five rounds to go and anything can happen if it’s in training or at the GP, so it’s not finished.”

Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev finally got around the first turn scot-free and was clearly the second fastest this weekend with his two second place finishes for second overall. “Romain was on fire today so it was difficult to follow him,” he said, “but I am happy that I had two consistent races because the track was quite tricky in both motos, so I am really happy to go home in one piece and to be on the podium.”

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With the field slightly decimated by injuries, there is a good possibility the Russian will take over third in the championship at the next round as he only trails the injured Cairoli by 27 points.

It was a solid return for Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP’s Clement Desalle who rounded off the podium with his third place in both races. “I am really happy to still be up front but on the other hand I am sad that my championship has gone like this, but I am happy to be back and I am really happy to take a FOX Holeshot.” He smiled.

Meanwhile his team-mate and fellow countryman Kevin Strijbos had a bit of a mediocre day, by his standards, for fourth while Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Jeremy Van Horebeek made for three Belgians inside the top five.

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 35:06.583; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:09.363; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:12.260; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:13.651; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:14.952; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:32.926; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:35.421; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:37.532; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, KTM), +0:42.624; 10. Nathan Watson (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:47.118

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 35:24.379; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:05.230; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:07.968; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:10.308; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:15.326; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:21.997; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:31.230; 8. Tyla Rattray (RSA, Kawasaki), +0:34.031; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), +0:36.966; 10. Nathan Watson (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:44.246

MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 50 points; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 44 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 40 p.; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 34 p.; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 28 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 23 p.; 9. Tyla Rattray (RSA, KAW), 22 p.; 10. Nathan Watson (GBR, HUS), 22 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 507 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 419 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 416 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 389 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 360 p.; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 331 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 306 p.; 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 294 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 266 p.; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 257 p.

MXGP Manufacturer: 1. Yamaha, 515 points; 2. Suzuki, 514 p.; 3. KTM, 497 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 489 p.; 5. Honda, 485 p.; 6. Kawasaki, 311 p.; 7. TM, 89 p.

MX2

Chaos is almost defining the 2015 FIM MX2 World Championship with all of the fastest riders facing some sort of adversity and one point or another. The championship leader Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings will not line up again this year, which has left the championship wide open.

Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod looked super fast all weekend with his super smooth and flamboyant style ironing out a lot of the gnarly bumps here in Loket. Despite crashing a number of times, the Swiss rider bounced back on every occasion to go 1 – 2 for his third overall victory of the season.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass brightened the atmosphere under the orange awning with his impressive third and fourth place finishes for second overall. “I didn’t expect to be on the podium this weekend because it is hard pack and a lot of guys are fast on the hard tracks, but I put in a lot of work in the winter with Stefan Everts and it’s paying off,” Jonass said in the post race interview.

Last year’s MX2 grand prix of the Czech Republic winner was Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier. Tixier was fast yesterday; he set the fastest time in timed practice but required stitches after a crash in the qualifying race. Despite the hurt, Tixier handled it like a pro and landed on the third step of the podium.

Meanwhile Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Benoit Paturel and Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Petar Petrov each put in season best performance to round out the top five in that order.

In other news, Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie and Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser added to the MX2 mayhem this weekend with their bittersweet performances.

Anstie put in a phenomenal ride in race one for a convincing victory but crashed out of the lead in race two when his hand came off of the handlebars on the approach to the waves which saw him hit the deck hard, whereas Gajser DNF’d the first race after coming together with Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Jeremy Seewer but bounced back for second place in race two.

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 35:30.895; 2. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:02.493; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:04.887; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:14.885; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:19.002; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +0:25.674; 7. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:27.789; 8. Roberts Justs (LAT, KTM), +0:39.944; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:41.393; 10. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, KTM), +0:45.660.

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), 33:51.527; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:06.630; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:17.841; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:19.020; 5. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:21.207; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +0:22.043; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:22.646; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:25.050; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:28.311; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:45.160.

MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 47 points; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 38 p.; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 36 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 30 p.; 6. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 27 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 25 p.; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 24 p.; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 24 p.; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 22 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 423 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 399 p.; 3. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 399 p.; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 389 p.; 5. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 370 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 369 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 337 p.; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 305 p.; 9. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 256 p.; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 236 p.

MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 569 points; 2. Kawasaki, 533 p.; 3. Yamaha, 460 p.; 4. Honda, 440 p.; 5. Suzuki, 369 p.; 6. Husqvarna, 314 p.; 7. TM, 61 p.