All Holla for Simpson

All Holla for Simpson 

 

 

Shaun Simpson handed out a devastating lesson in guts and riding as he thrashed the best in the world in the roughest, toughest race in the calander at Lierop, to claim a career first GP victory. 

 

This was the first privateer win in 11 years of MX1 history against the might of the factory teams. 

 

And, in a gut-wrenching finish, the whole pitlane toasted the 25-year-old Scot as he crossed the line at the end of the epic second moto.

 

While the factory ‘stars' were universally griping about a track made even more treacherous than usual by overnight rain, Shaun got on with the job aboard the JK Gebben SKS Yamaha.

 

"I always had a good feeling with WP suspension so we changed to that,” said  Shaun,

 

‘‘The team has worked on the engine the last few weeks, I have a good feeling in the sand and got second in qualification. I've got a training track in Scotland which can get as heavy as this and when it rained last night I thought to myself, ‘Let's go for it!''

 

 

Already in qualification the Scot had run down all the factory boys bar Toni Cairoli.

 

And he immediately set to work to do the same in the opening GP moto, hauling back Kevin Strijbos at three seconds a lap mid-moto to take the lead.

 

Cairoli reacted to the danger to follow him through, but the Scot stood firm as the Sicilian snuffed his chances. 

 

With two laps to go the champion piled on the pressure, and attempted to ride round the Scot, but he washed out big time. Cairoli said: "I already had problems with the rear wheel.”

 

But it was amazing how fast and tidy he was until he binned it and could only struggle to the finish in fourth.

 

"The wheel was not in line after the crash,” he admitted.

 

With Clement Desalle taking the bars in his belly on lap one and Ken De Dycker nursing a recent ankle injury, Strijbos, Evgeny Bobryshev and Cairoli were the danger for the overall win.

 

And the proud Italian immediately sprinted clear in the second moto to win by nearly as minute. But the overall was only on if someone could push Shaun down to fourth.

 

The Scot had finally made a start, diving under Cairoli on the exit from turn two to lead: "Then I crashed and went back to eighth,” he said.

 

Undaunted Shaun immediately went back on the charge and by lap four he had hauled back Strijbos.

 

FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX SEPTEMBER 13

 

WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rd 17 (FINAL) – Lierop, HOLLAND

 1 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - JK SKS Yamaha) 25 + 20 = 45

 2 Kevin Strijbos (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 22 + 22 = 44

 3 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull KTM) 18 + 25 = 43

 4 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World) 20 + 16 = 36

 5 Ken De Dycker (B - Red Bull KTM) 16 + 18 = 34

 6 Tommy SEARLE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 14 + 13 = 27

 7 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 12 + 14 = 26

 8 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KRT Kawasaki) 15 + 11 = 26

 9 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki)  9 + 15 = 24

10 Rick Satink (NL - Yamaha) 10 +  8 = 18

11 Matiss Karro (LAT - STR KTM) 7+9=16, 12 Joel Roelants (B - Monster Energy Yamaha) 13+3=16, 13 David Philippaerts (I - Gariboldi Honda) 4+10=14, 14 Tanel Leok (EST - Ricci TM) 1+12=13, 15 Augusts Justs (LAT - Latvia Elksni Honda) 6+7=13, 16 Marc De Reuver (NL - Stabilo KTM) 11+1=12, 17 Mikola Paschynskyi (UKR - KTM) 5+5=10, 18 Rui Goncalves (P - Ice1 KTM) 8+2=10, 19 Nick Triest (B - KTM) 0+6=6, 20 Lauri Lehtla (EST - KTM) 2+4=6, 21 Jonathan Barragan (E - STR KTM) 3+0=3.

RACE ONE: 1 SIMPSON, 2 Strijbos, 3 Bobryshev, 4 Cairoli, 5 De Dycker, 6 Van Horebeek, 7 SEARLE, 8 Roelants, 9 Paulin, 10 De Reuver, 11 Satink, 12 Desalle, 13 Goncalves, 14 Karro, 15 Justs, 16 Paschynskyi, 17 Philippaerts, 18 Barragan, 19 Lehtla, 20 Leok.

RACE TWO: 1 SIMPSON, 2 Cairoli, 3 Strijbos, 4 De Dycker, 5 Bobryshev, 6 Desalle, 7 Paulin, 8 SEARLE, 9 Leok, 10 Van Horebeek, 11 Philippaerts, 12 Karro, 13 Satink, 14 Justs, 15 Triest, 16 Paschynskyi, 17 Lehtla, 18 Roelants, 19 Goncalves, 20 De Reuver.

FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 17 rounds: 1 Toni Cairoli 761 points (CHAMPION), 2 Clement Desalle 671, 3 Ken De Dycker 607, 4 Strijbos 553, 5 Paulin 539, 6 SEARLE 487, 7 Van Horebeek 431, 8 Bobryshev 348, 9 SIMPSON 316, 10 Nagl 314, 11 Philippaerts 296, 12 Roelants 265, 13 Goncalves 240, 14 Leok 232, 15 Guarneri 195, 16 Karro 187, 17 Boog 173, 18 Barragan 152, 19 Justs 101, 20 Potisek 87,... 29 Jason DOUGAN 19,... 34 Billy MacKENZIE 12, 35 Adam CHATFIELD 12,... 45 Tony CRAIG 7, 46 Scott ELDERFIELD 7,... 49 Nathan WATSON 6,... 53 Alex SNOW 5,... 56 Jamie LAW 4,...

 

WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rd 17 (FINAL) – Lierop, HOLLAND

 1 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Rockstar BUD Kawasaki) 22 + 20 = 42

 3 Jordi Tixier (F - Red Bull KTM) 20 + 18 = 38

 4 Petar Petrov (BUL - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 18 + 16 = 34

 5 Romain Febvre (F - Wilvo Nestaan JM KTM) 15 + 14 = 29

 6 Dean Ferris (AUS - Monster Energy Yamaha) 16 + 13 = 29

 7 Christophe Charlier (F - Monster Energy Yam) 13 + 10 = 23

 8 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - ESTA Honda) 14 +  9 = 23

 9 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Standing Const KTM)  0 + 22 = 22

10 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Wilvo Nestaan JM KTM) 10 +  7 = 17

11 Arnaud Tonus (CH - CLS Monster PC Kawasaki) 1+15=16, 12 Harri Kullas (SF - Sahkar KTM) 8+8=16, 13 Kevin Fors (B - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 12+4=16, 14 Lars Van Berkel (NL - Honda) 9+5=14, 15 Maxime Desprey (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 0+12=12, 16 Jose Butron (E - Silver Action KTM) 6+6=12, 17 Alessandro Lupino (I - CLS Monster PC Kawasaki) 0+11=11, 18 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - Standing Construct KTM) 11+0=11, 19 Ivo Monticelli (I - Ricci TM) 7+3=10, 20 Lars Hool (NL - KTM) 5+0=5, 21 Stefan-Kjer Olsen (DK - Jtech ESTA Honda) 3+1=4, 22 Nathan WATSON (GB - Red Bull KTM UK) 4+0=4, 23 Ceriel Klein Kromhof (NL - KTM) 0+2=2, 24 Even Heibye (N - Scott KTM) 2+0=2.

RACE ONE: 1 Herlings, 2 Ferrandis, 3 Tixier, 4 Petrov, 5 Ferris, 6 Febvre, 7 Tonkov, 8 Charlier, 9 Fors, 10 Rauchenecker, 11 NICHOLLS, 12 Van Berkel, 13 Kullas, 14 Monticelli, 15 Butron, 16 Hool, 17 WATSON, 18 Olsen, 19 Heibye, 20 Tonus.

RACE TWO: 1 Herlings, 2 Coldenhoff, 3 Ferrandis, 4 Tixier, 5 Petrov, 6 Tonus, 7 Febvre, 8 Ferris, 9 Desprey, 10 Lupino, 11 Charlier, 12 Tonkov, 13 Kullas, 14 NICHOLLS, 15 Butron, 16 Van Berkel, 17 Fors, 18 Monticelli, 19 Klein Kromhof, 20 Olsen.

FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 17 rounds: 1 Jeff Herlings 742 points (CHAMPION), 2 Jordi Tixier 607, 3 Jose Butron 518, 4 Charlier 490, 5 Coldenhoff 472, 6 Ferris 463, 7 NICHOLLS 424, 8 Lupino 330, 9 Ferrandis 329, 10 ANSTIE 320, 11 Petrov 312, 12 Febvre 296, 13 Tonkov 267, 14 POCOCK 261, 15 Kullas 224, 16 Desprey 207, 17 Rauchenecker 134, 18 Olsen 122, 19 BANKS-BROWNE 119, 20 Gajser 112,... 40 James DUNN 7,... 42 Nathan WATSON 6,... 48 Lewis TOMBS 2,...