Bravehearts rule!
By TMX Archives on 11th Dec 08
Scotland celebrates as MacKenzie and Simpsonlift MX1 and MX2 titles...Not since Vic Allan (MBE) won BOTH the 500cc AND the 250cc British Motocross Championships in 1974 has there been anything like the Scottish domination of the main British domestic motocross championship as there was in 2008. Read it and smile all you nationalists out there... BOTH the British MX1 AND MX2 championships were picked off by Scots, with another Scot in runner-up position in the MX2 class.
Bravehearts one and all... Billy MacKenzie reclaimed the British MX1 championship crown he won the previous season and the seriously talented Shaun Simpson just pipped his main rival – and fellow Scot – Stephen Sword for overall MX2 title honours in what was a monumental season for Scottish riders in the British series.
In the 34 years since Allan took his tartan striped helmet to British championship glory – and he went on to another two British 500cc class titles in 1975 and '76 – there have been numerous raids from north of the border on the national series from riders as classy as Jimmy Aird, Cameron Knox, Dennis McGarrie, Roy Black, Billy Edwards and of course Shaun's father ‘The Balmullo Bull' himself, Willie Simpson, amongst others in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and '90s.
Shaun now has serious bragging rights over his dad who's best place finish in the British 500cc Championship was ‘only' a fifth in 1984, but ‘Oor Wullie' did win the first ever Weston Beach Race in 1982 whereas Shaun could only finish second in 2008 to, err, multi-world champion Stefan Everts!
Billy MacKenzie looked like he was going for total domination of the 2008 British MX1 class with eight straight race victories in a row before disaster struck when he injured his shoulder in a crash at the French Grand Prix. As a result it was felt that he needed to sit out the next round of the Maxxis series at Desertmartin in Ireland, in June, to help him recover for the long term.
However, normal service was resumed in July, at Foxhill, with two devastating race wins to keep him ahead in the championship points race.
However, injury again struck in another crash, this time at the Czech GP just a week before the penultimate British round of the Maxxis series at Brampton, in August. Billy suffered injuries that gave him pain in his groin when he rode. The result was that he was only able to only score two sixth places at Brampton – but points make prizes!
However, it was all over bar the shouting going into the final round at Hawkstone Park in September and it was a classy win in the first MX1 race that saw MacKenzie snatch his second British championship in as many years.
He could relax for the second race and went out on the 500cc two-stroke fire-breather of his CAS Honda team boss. He only managed a few laps before the 23-year-old from Longniddry rattled the engine out of the frame.
In the MX1 Grand Prix series, Billy finished a remarkable ninth after his injury hit season.
Shaun Simpson, on a semi-factory KTM UK 250cc thumper, had nothing to prove, but everything to gain in 2008, and he really benefited from being pushed to his limits by his vastly more experienced fellow Scot, Stephen Sword.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES, SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2008
Shaun Simpson celebrates with mum Vanda