As the pressure builds and another world title awaits, Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP's Romain Febvre defended his series points-lead in the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship with his sixteenth podium of the season at Afyonkarahisar in Turkey.

“The second race was better. I think I took the holeshot, which was good. We made a change a little too late for the first race, but it worked in the second one. I was leading and thought I was winning the GP, but then Jeffrey [Herlings] passed me. I tried to stay with him, and in the last laps Lucas [Coenen] came really hard to try and pass me, but I managed to finish second. Didn’t lose too many points, so that’s pretty good.”

On the Saturday, Febvre qualified third for the eighteenth round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Afyonkarahisar in Turkey to maintain his lead in the series points-standings.

"I rode a good first turn on the inside," Febvre said of his Saturday. "But my start was not so good so we will make some adjustments to the settings for tomorrow. The riding was ok, but not crazy; the track is extra fast and not so bumpy so to close a gap was quite difficult."

Lap times were extremely close on the extremely fast raceway a thousand metres above sea level in the interior of Anatolia and just fractions of a second separated the top-three in Timed Practice.

The Kawasaki leader experienced a momentary loss of drive on the unpredictable surface of the start straight but he recovered well through the long sweeping first turn to emerge fourth. He stayed there in a high-speed train before launching into third on lap seven of twelve down the back straight after building momentum through the turn on the approach. With only one championship point on offer for each potential pass he was then satisfied to bring home third place safely.

Sunday wasn’t a GP winner day, but his podium finish and 3-2 score made sure he lost only a handful of points on his main rival, Lucas Coenen of the Red Bull KTM factory team. Febvre is excited to see what awaits him in China and Australia, as the tracks will be brand new and all the riders will need to adjust to the different time zones and weather conditions.

"The start was missing in the first race; I could stay with them all race after I passed Gajser but I didn't get the jump and that cost me. We found something again for the second start and I could nearly holeshot; that always makes life easier. I only had a small gap to Jeffrey but I felt that was enough. I was focused on winning the GP as that is the best way to gain points but then some lines changed a bit during the moto. I tried to figure out where he was going but that's never easy when you are the guy in front. I could stay with Jeffrey after he passed me but he was better than me today. I knew Lucas would push in the last laps so I concentrated on him at the end. Now we have two tracks which are new for everyone to end the season."

Febvre was squeezed on the run down to turn one in the first moto and was blocked from making his usual cut-back through the turn to come out sixth but he was already fourth within half a lap as the "big four" moved clear of the pack around the high-speed raceway.

A smart transfer through a twin-lane turn took him to third on lap seven before the leaderboard settled again until the last ten minutes when the Kawasaki rider launched an attack which took him to less than two seconds from second entering the last lap before he ran out of time to make a move.

The ice-cool Frenchman kept his nerves under control best at the start of race two as the starter held the riders for the maximum time to launch out of the gate, narrowly missing the holeshot award but with the drive to lead by turn two. He looked comfortable in front for half the race before a surprise move by his chaser caught him off-guard; the leading trio stayed close to the end as Febvre successfully resisted a last lap challenge to finish second in moto and third overall on the day. He now heads to the final two rounds of the championship with a twenty-six point lead in the series.

Now onto China and Australia and a World title awaits the likeable 2015 World champion. To add another title, at this late stage of his career and a decade after his first title, would be a dream come true and the perfect way to end what has until now, been a very successful season.

Pascal Haudiquert image