A TOUCH OF FROSS
By TMX Archives on 10th Jun 15
French flyer breaks Simpson stranglehold
Shaun Simpson's run of championship moto wins came to a stop in race two of last Sunday's fourth round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship powered by Skye Energy.
Simpson (Hitachi Revo KTM UK) was chasing Steven Frossard (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) when a berm gave way, sending him tumbling down the track.
He remounted in third, passed Gert Krestinov (Buildbase Honda) and chased the Frenchman all the way to the flag but ran out of laps to make a race-winning pass.
Still, it wasn't all doom and gloom in the Scot's camper – he won the overall and increased his championship lead to 56 points over Tanel Leok (LPE Kawasaki).
In MX2 two-time world champion Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM), racing as a wildcard, gave the rest of the field a masterclass in sand riding.
The Dutchman won all three motos with Max Anstie (Monster DRT Kawasaki) the only other rider who stood any real chance of staying with him for at least a few laps.
Frossard led Simpson at the end of the opening lap of race one after Simpson had gone over a berm at the back of the circuit but a lap later the order was reversed with Simpson taking the win from Frossard with Leok a distant third after an average start.
Martin Barr (BRT KTM) was a strong fourth with Krestinov fifth as Graeme Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) held off Ryan Houghton (Yamaha) for sixth.
In race two it was a similar story, with Frossard leading Simpson until the second lap when Simpson went down, letting Krestinov through to second. It took two laps for Simpson to get back into second place on a bent-up bike but by this time Frossard was out of reach.
At half-distance Barr managed to find a way past Krestinov for third with Leok, after another bad start, fifth behind the Estonian.
The third and final race was all about Simpson as he led from start to finish as Frossard passed both Krestinov and Leok on the first lap to come home in second for second overall.
Leok was third from Krestinov, Barr and Irwin with Alex Snow (Phoenix Husqvarna) having his best ride of the day in seventh place.
"There are greater riders then me that have failed at the 100 per cent race wins in championship's before,” said Simpson.
"But it's a shame as it was something at the back of my mind that I wanted to do. But it didn't happen and one second place at the end of the year won't be bad.
"As long as I keep standing on the top step of the podium and hold that red plate means I have done a good day's work.”
Anstie got the holeshot in the first MX2 race but by the third turn Herlings was through and into the lead with Anstie doing all he could to stay with him.
Series leader Steven Lenoir (Dyer & Butler KTM) spent the entire race in third with a hard-charging Bryan MacKenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki) doing all he could to find a way past but just coming up short.
FOR FULL REPORT & PICTURES SEE THIS WEEK'S TMX NEWS, JUNE 11, (ISSUE 1975)
