Shaun Simpson out of luck in France
By G2F on 15th Feb 10
Looking to continue the same form that netted him the overall win at the opening meeting at Mantova, Italy - Shaun Simpson arrived in Valence, France for his second meeting of the year with high hopes of repeating a similar performance. However despite showing great speed during both of Saturday's free practice sessions, and Sunday morning's time training period, Simpson's day was brought to an early end as a result of a first lap crash in the second moto, after having finished behind his team mate Marvin Musquin in the opening MX2 race.
Factory Red Bull KTM rider Shaun had made another good start to the second moto, despite having had a last minute panic with his goggles on the line, and slotted into third spot behind Musquin and Ken Roczen as they hit the first jump, only to be side swiped by his young team mate Jeffrey Herlings in the air. With his front wheel having been taking away from him mid flight Simpson hit the ground hard as he landed and was lucky not to have been injured further by the chasing pack as he layed helpless on the deck.
With the immediate danger gone Shaun was helped to his feet and treated by medics on site. Despite landing heavily on his right shoulder the damage appears to have been limited to brusing, his other injury being a deep cut to his right elbow, which is being held together with tape strips as opposed to being stitched. Whilst Simpson could have perhaps gone to the line for the mixed MX1 / MX2 Super Final, the decision was taken for the twenty-one year old to sit out the last race in order to prevent any possible further damage to his shoulder at this early stage of the season.
Confirming his early season form Simpson was over a second faster than Nicolas Aubin during Saturday afternoon's first free practice session, and almost two seconds quicker than reigning MX2 World champion Musquin as the riders got used to the undulating French circuit that over looks the local industrial area. Shaun followed this up with a close third place behind Aubin and Musquin respectively in the second session of free practice, as these top three riders were separated by less than three-quarters of a second.
Sunday morning saw Simpson post the fifth best lap in timed training to give himself a good gate pick for the main races, as the top five places were covered by just one and half seconds on a drying track. Shaun converted this into a good first race result as he slotted into a safe second place behind Musquin for the entire duration of the twenty minute plus two lap initial encounter. This was a result the young Scot was hoping to build on in race two until disaster struck.
Speaking about his weekend Simpson explained. "Despite the way things have ended up, overall it has been a positive weekend. One thing I knew I needed to improve on this year is on the hard pack tracks, and I think this weekend shows that I have made good progress in this direction. The French riders are always quick in these conditions, as is Roczen, but hopefully I have showed that I can now be some where near them when we come to these type of tracks later in the year."
"I am not too sure what happened with Herlings as I have not had the chance to speak with him yet, but he somehow managed to come right across me in the air, which was a bit wreckless really. Luckily nothing is broken and whilst I am a bit bruised and cut I am hopeful that I can be riding again early next week. The good news is that next weekend is free, so I am sure that I will be fully fit for Hawkstone Park the following weekend, as I am really looking forward to racing there and being back on sand again." Shaun ended.
Valence International - 2010
MX2 Moto One: 1: Musquin 2: Simpson 3: Roczen 4: Paulin 5: Frossard
MX2 Moto Two: 1: Roczen 2: Musquin 3: Frossard 4: Paulin 5: Vanhorebeek DNF: Simpson