The Kawasaki Racing Team members face a very busy month when they fly to Turkey for the 18th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship next week; it will be the first of three flyaways on consecutive weekends as the series culminates in China and Australia. But the season will not end there as Romain Febvre, Pauls Jonass and Mathis Valin have each been selected to represent their country at the MX of Nations.

For the first time in the history of the World Championship team and riders will face three back-to-back overseas rounds to end the season; it will be a huge challenge for everyone who will be at Afyonkarahisar (Turkey) on September 7th, at Shanghai (China) on September 14th, and then at Darwin (Australia) on September 21st. The team members will have to work far from their base in Lommel during the three weeks campaign and then, after a short stay back in Europe, they will fly to the United States of America as the MX of Nations will take place at the Ironman Raceway in Indiana on October 5th.

Although the Kawasaki Racing Team has a long experience of overseas events it’s another challenge that the team will face in a few days. “For sure it’s a challenge to have four races in a row outside Europe,” admitted team manager Antti Pyrhonen. “We sent the crates to Turkey earlier this week and from there they will go directly to China, then to Australia and finally from Australia to the USA. For the teams it’s very demanding to manage and organise everything, to have all the tools and spare parts to be able to carry out the service on the road. It’s not just one or two events, it’s four, and for sure it will be very demanding but our team has a strong experience and we have motivated mechanics and team members to take care of everything and we will manage the situation,” he added.

Romain, Pauls and Jonass will not pack their helmets away after the twentieth round of the world series in Australia, as two weeks later they will each race the traditional MX of Nations. “To have all three riders from our team representing France and Latvia is something really special for us, and that definitely shows that we have done a good job all season! France is always battling for the overall win at this event; Romain, with his results and experience, was the obvious choice to be captain of Team France, but to be honest when we started to work on the MX2 project with Mathis we never dreamed that he would be the MX2 rider for Team France in his rookie GP season! Latvia has now confirmed that they will go to the US with Pauls; it’s great and, on behalf of KRT, I am proud and happy to support our riders there,” confirmed Antti, who was twice involved in winning the event when Gautier Paulin, now the manager of the French team, was still a racer. “Working with Team France is always nice, I have been working with them at several Nations and everybody in Team France is always highly motivated, excited, passionate and do their best. That’s something which is always beautiful to see, and to work with them is great; they take this race very seriously with one goal, to win! You don’t go there just to be present, and that’s the mentality of the entire team and their manager Gautier Paulin. We have known each other really well for many years and we always have a great cooperation both on and off the track. It’s an event that I definitely look forward to.”

While Mathis Valin will race the MXoN for the first time in his young career, Pauls Jonass and Romain Febvre have considerable experience at this team race. Pauls has been a member of the Latvian team three times so far, while Romain will line up for France for the sixth time in his career. Mathis will race the MX2 class, while Romain will be the MXGP rider for France and Pauls the Open class representative for Latvia.

Romain Febvre: “It’s always nice to be selected for the Nations; for sure it is not a surprise to be selected as I have had a good season and I’m proud to again be on the team. We don’t have so many opportunities to race in the US, and for sure it will be great to race the MXoN at Ironman even if we will have to set up the bike to this track which is different to those in MXGP. As always I will go there to get the best result; we know that at this race everything is possible as it’s a one day event. Australia and USA also have strong teams and they will effectively both be racing at home as their riders compete all year in the US; they are the favourites and for sure it will be more difficult for us coming to the track for the first time but we’ll do our best as usual.”

Pauls Jonass: « I’m really happy to represent Latvia at the MX of Nations; it’s always a very big event, the biggest of the year! This year we’ll race in US; I’ve never been there for the MXoN so that makes it special and this year Latvia has a strong team in my opinion with myself and two young fast riders. It will be cool and hopefully we’ll be able to get a good result there.”

Mathis Valin: “It’s a double dream which will come true; racing the MXoN and also racing it in the US. That’s incredible! In January 2023 I went training in the US, but that was in California so it will be different. Just like everyone else who goes there it’s to win. I know that it will not be easy but it’s not impossible; we’ll see! I have no extra pressure; I have always got good results at big races like the French GPs, the European MX of Nations or the Junior World Championship when there is additional pressure. For sure I don’t have the experience of Romain and Maxime, but I know that they will give me plenty of advice for this race; I know both of my teammates pretty well as I’m used to sharing time with each of them; with Romain at the races and with Maxime when we train together with our coach Thierry (Van Den Bosch). We all know each other well; that’s a good point and we are a strong team.”

Romain Febvre at the MXoN

• P1 with the French team in 2015 (raced the Open class), 2016 (raced the MXGP class), 2017 (raced the Open class) and 2023 (raced the MXGP class)
• P5 with the French team in 2024 (raced the MXGP class)

Pauls Jonass at the MXoN

• P8 with the Latvian team in 2019 (raced the Open class)
• P12 with the Latvian team in 2014 (raced the MX2 class) and 2023 (raced the MXGP class)