Qatar Heroes
By TMX Archives on 4th Mar 15
Nagl and Herlings draw first blood
A bruised and battered Shaun Simpson was truly last man standing among the British contingent at the opening GP in Qatar as Tommy Searle, Max Anstie, Mel Pocock, Ben and Nathan Watson and even Steven Frossard needed medical treatment.
After a stunning opening ride when he put the Hitachi Revo KTM among the factory bikes for seventh, the Scot was in the wars second time out as a goggle lens popped out at turn one and a couple of laps later Jose Butron crashed into his right foot, leaving Shaun limping and nearly blind.
The Brits were not the only disappointed crew as Ryan Villopoto struggled to seventh on his GP debut and even Tony Cairoli missed the podium.
As for the winners, there were maximum scores for Max Nagl, Jeffrey Herlings and Livi Lancelot.
The US fans who almost crashed the YS homepage with their interest could hardly believe their eyes as RV could manage no better than eighth in qualification.
And their jaws must have dropped even further when the AMA champ stalled his Kawasaki at the gate in race one and two crashes later was only ninth at the chequered flag.
His lap times were a second down on the fleeing Nagl who had grabbed a holeshot which was monumental even by his standards to lead by two bike lengths halfway down the start straight.
"The Husky is so strong but I surprised even myself,” said the grinning German.
"I broke a rib at Ottobiano and haven't been able to train for two weeks.”
But even when Clement Desalle, who had pushed Cairoli down to third on lap three, went on a charge at 25 minutes Nagl had the answer. "I was on the limit but I could hold him at two seconds,” he said.
Tommy Searle, whos was struggling after dislocating his right thumb on Saturday, admitted: "I had a bad start but I had good speed for 20 minutes and made some good passes before the pain got too bad. It's so frustrating after my good early season.”
He tried to start race two but was forced to quit after just two laps – but that was better Nathan Watson who was just thankful he had no broken bones after being knocked out in a major crash soon after the start of race one.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, MARCH 5, 2015 (ISSUE 1961)
