While the track looks fantastic in Indonesia and has a little bit of everything, the riders seems to be struggling to find their rhythm and passing isn’t easy, with both qualifying races largely processional. Alberto Forato admitted he was struggling to find his feeling with the circuit that looks loamy but the ground is fairly unpredictable in places – even more so in MX2 when they had to race just after heavy watering!
Hopefully they don’t level the circuit overnight and the lines and bumps will develop more that may allow some closer racing.
There was no battles out front in either class because Lucas Coenen and Roman Febvre were in a class of their own! Coenen continues to impress and, after that heartbreaking mechanical that stole his first GP win away, Coenen came out of the gate with authority to lead wire to wire and goes into tomorrow as the favourite.
Composure and belief, Coenen is doing exactly what he did in EMX125 and EMX250, once he figures how to win halfway into the season, he wins a lot. He’s one of the favourites now every time the gate drops and he knows it. The kid is very, very special, it looks like he believes can win anywhere, anytime against anyone right now and he’s backing it up – even if he is riding in some pain like he is this weekend!
Lucas Coenen: “The track is not easy, and I’m not used to ride under these hot conditions. The fact that I bruised my rib last week in training did not make it easier but if you want to win you need to keep going and that is what I have done”
Romain Febvre gelled with the track immediately and set the pace that no-one could match. The variable terrains suits the Frenchman perfectly, finding grip and moving around on the track to find the optimum line on off-cambers, slick turns or loamy berms, Febvre is dialled and made it look easy as Prado took it steady for fourth – controlling his championship with Herlings out.
Romain Febvre: “It feels good, for sure it’s hot for everybody. I had an awesome start, made my way at the front and I found good lines to create a comfortable gap to win. Two races tomorrow and two good starts will be important but I saved some energy as I could save some riding at the front and I look forward for tomorrow”
Image: InFront Moto Racing
