Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP's Romain Febvre completed his preparation for the defence of the FIM MXGP World Championship title by sharing the top-two placings in both motos of the Dutch international at the rugged Lierop sand track with a fellow multiple world champion.

The Frenchman swiftly moved forward to take the lead after a few laps of the first moto and displayed tremendous pace to open up a seven-second advantage, maintaining his place at the head of the field to the chequered flag ahead of the "King of Sand" Jeffrey Herlings. The duo immediately hit the front in race two to delight the crowd with a thrilling duel; Febvre passed his rival at one stage to lead for several laps before the local hero once again nosed in front as they hit lapped traffic and he held it to the finish. The world title rivals ended the day equal on points and the Kawasaki ace had to settle for second overall on the second-moto tie-decider. But their duels herald the expectations of an enthralling MXGP world championship campaign with the first of nineteen rounds next weekend in Argentina.

Romain Febvre: "I’m happy with my speed here today as I didn’t have any race since Pernes three weeks ago; you never know if you have a good racing speed or not until you are on the track together with your rivals. My start was not so great in the first moto but I passed everyone to win even if I was still riding a little tense. I was leading in the straight line at the second start but drifted wide in the first corner and both Herlings and Nagl nipped inside me. I got back past Nagl straight away, then I passed Jeffrey too to lead the race but there was so much traffic that I lost time when a lapper got in my way. Jeffrey took the lead again and I lost more time with the lappers but I’m happy with the results and I'm ready for Argentina."

KRT colleague Pauls Jonass had started the day impressively by posting the second-fastest time in Qualifying but falls in the early stages of each moto restricted the Latvian to tenth and ninth in the two motos.

Pauls Jonass: "It was quite a challenging day. I was fast in Qualifying but I made stupid errors in the early stages of both motos. I came back from almost last to tenth in the first race but it was difficult to find my rhythm coming through the pack. I crashed again over a jump on the first lap of moto two and had to wait for the entire field to pass before I could rejoin the race. I also stopped in pitlane to straighten the levers before coming back to ninth. Of course I'm disappointed with the results today but now I'm looking forward to Argentina next weekend."

Kawasaki Racing Team MX2's Mathis Valin started the day impressively by qualifying second in MX2 on his first visit to the track and he was holding that placing in race one until he fell heavily without injury, remounting to finish sixth. The French teenager had to dig deep in race two to come back from a poor getaway to finish fifth in both moto and overall.

Mathis Valin: "This is a pretty special track; it was a new experience to me and I only had one short practice to learn it this morning. My start was OK in the first race, but it’s difficult to pass here and when I was second I had a crash. It was a spectacular one but I didn't hurt myself or damage the bike. I didn't start so well in the second moto and I didn’t find a good feeling with the track so I didn't take any risks and just took it as a new experience."

DRT Kawasaki's Kay Karssemakers made a solid start to his season, scoring third- and sixth-placed moto finishes to end the day on the podium as third overall.