Simpson stuns Brampton...
By TMX Archives on 21st Aug 08
DOUBTFUL to even start on Sunday after mid-week surgery to repair a broken collarbone and hampered further by a draining bladder infection, KTM UK's Shaun Simpson defied the odds to claim an outstanding overall victory at the penultimate round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Brampton, Cumbria, on Sunday.
Despite the pain of his injuries, Simpson showed true championship winning determination to go 2-1 on the day to claim the win from UTag Yamaha's Zach Osborne and DB Racing Honda's Nev Bradshaw, and crucially open up a significant 15-point advantage over arch championship rival Stephen Sword as the Molson Kawasaki man hit the deck in the second moto finishing sixth and slumping to fifth overall on a day that saw some of the best racing witnessed all season.
Nasty leg injuries took their toll on a visibly struggling Billy MacKenzie in MX1, however, and as the series leader nursed himself and the factory CAS Honda home for fifth overall on a topsy-turvy day that produced by far the best racing of the season in the premier class, his main championship rival James Noble hit the top-step of the podium aboard the KTM UK machine with a 2-1 scorecard, taking the win from ARB Kawasaki's Mark Jones and flying opening moto victor Ray Rowson on the PAR Honda.
The rough, tough Brampton circuit was again the perfect setting for such a critical race, and the sizeable, hugely enthusiastic crowd who lined the hilltop Cumbrian sand-hole were indeed witness to something special.
MX2
MERCIFULLY for the organising East Cumbria MCC, the paddock and the injured championship hunters Simpson and MacKenzie the genuinely grizzly weather that had afflicted the north west for the previous couple of weeks hadn't hit the track too hard, leaving it rutted and challenging but not the bog many were expecting, and the sun even broke out from behind the clouds for race day to shine on Simpson.
A tentative 11th in a damp qualifying session topped by Osborne, Carl Nunn and Sword, Simpson clearly was still up to the job when the gate dropped for the opening moto as he grabbed the all important holeshot in the superfast sweeping left from Bradshaw and Osborne who had careered across half the pack front-wheel pawing the air and legs flailing but throttle still pinned.
Zac Osborne took his maiden moto win in the MX2 opener but a fall in moto two limited him to third overall.
Simpson lead the charge around the first lap with Sword back in fifth behind Martin Barr, and as Simpson and Osborne put the hammer down to establish a small lead over the next two laps, Sword just couldn't get around the UTag Yamaha man until lap four, leaving him with some work to do.
He was gifted a prime opportunity just a lap later when Simpson, really under pressure from Osborne, tipped over as the track swept round the back of the hill. Simpson remounted fifth and the race was on.
BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 7 – Low Gelt, Brampton, nr Carlisle
(East Cumbria MCC)
1 Shaun Simpson (KTM UK) 22+25=47
2 Zach Osborne (Utag Yamaha) 25+18=43
3 Neville Bradshaw (DB Honda) 18+20=38
4 Martin Barr (Utag Yamaha) 15+22=37
5 Stephen Sword (Molson Kawasaki) 20+15=35
6 Carl Nunn (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 16+16=32
7 Gareth Swanepoel (Molson Kawasaki) 10+14=24
8 Elliott Banks-Browne (Swift Suzuki) 11+13=24
9 Mel Pocock (Utag Yamaha) 12+ 9=21
10 Lewis Gregory (Relentless Suzuki) 13+ 6=19
11 Marcus Norlen (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 8+10=18, 12 Jason Dougan (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 2+12=14, 13 Shane Carless (PAR Honda) 6+ 8=14, 14 Kristian Whatley (NA Robinson KTM) 7+ 7=14, 15 Jake Nicholls (Swift Suzuki) 14+ 0=14, 16 Steven Clarke (Suzuki) 1+11=12, 17 Ashley Greedy (PAR Honda) 4+5=9, 18 Alex Snow (KTM UK) 9+0=9, 19 Daniel Arnold (Pioneer Yamaha) 3+4=7, 20 Graeme Irwin (Moto One Suzuki) 5+0=5, 21 Scott Elderfield (Suzuki) 0+3=3, 22 Lewis King (Electraction TM) 0+2=2, 23 Alex Butler (Corby Kawasaki) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Osborne, 2 Simpson, 3 Sword, 4 Bradshaw, 5 Nunn, 6 Barr, 7 Nicholls, 8 Lewis Gregory, 9 Pocock, 10 Banks-Browne, 11 Swanepoel, 12 Snow, 13 Norlen, 14 Whatley, 15 Carless, 16 Irwin, 17 Greedy, 18 Arnold, 19 Dougan, 20 Clarke.
RACE TWO: 1 Simpson, 2 Barr, 3 Bradshaw, 4 Osborne, 5 Nunn, 6 Sword, 7 Swanepoel, 8 Banks-Browne, 9 Dougan, 10 Clarke, 11 Norlen, 12 Pocock, 13 Carless, 14 Whatley, 15 Lewis Gregory, 16 Greedy, 17 Arnold, 18 Elderfield, 19 King, 20 Butler.
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 8) rounds: 1 Simpson 298 points, 2 Sword 283, 3 Barr 245, 4 Bradshaw 177, 5 Nunn 174, 6 Dougan 162, 7 Banks-Browne 161, 8 Norlen 130, 9 Lewis Gregory 124, 10 Pocock 116, 11 Leuret 103, 12 Snow 93, 13 Nicholls 89, 14 Whatley 88, 15 Osborne 83,...
FINAL ROUND: Sep 21 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury (Salop MC).
MX1
YOU only had to see the laboured way in which Billy MacKenzie was walking around the pits to realise that two motos around Brampton was going to be hard going for the previously unbeatable Scot and so it proved to be.
Conscious not to put his feet out or down unless absolutely necessary to avoid further pain from his badly beat-up thighs and pelvis, MacKenzie gritted his teeth and did his job to come away from Brampton fifth overall and maintain a 22 point championship advantage going into Hawkstone's finale, but the day, however, belonged to his championship rival James Noble.
They all had to give second best to flying Ray Rowson in moto one though.
The young PAR Honda rider had already bounced back from a broken back to claim his first Maxxis win in the mud of Desertmartin and after topping the timing sheets in qualifying, despite
suffering from the broken foot he sustained at Foxhill, he stormed the opener to really give the established names something to think about.
Side-by-side with Molson Kawasaki's Tom Church going into the fast first turn, Rowson just sneaked inside going into turn one and lead the field through the opening lap from Church, crowd favourite Brad Anderson, MacKenzie, Noble and Mark Jones.
Urged on by a large and vocal squad of north-easterners Anderson forced his way through past Rowson for the lead breifly on lap two but Rowson was dogedly determined and fought right back.
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 7 – Low Gelt, Brampton, nr Carlisle
(East Cumbria MCC)
1 James Noble (KTM UK) 22+25=47
2 Mark Jones (Kawasaki) 18+20=38
3 Ray Rowson (PAR Honda) 25+10=35
4 Stuart Anderson (Swift Suzuki) 16+18=34
5 Billy MacKenzie (CAS Honda) 15+15=30
6 Joe Dark (Meredith Suzuki) 12+14=26
7 Jamie Lewis (Kawasaki) 11+13=24
8 Gordon Crockard (PAR Honda) 0 +22=22
9 Mark Eastwood (Wiseco Honda) 10+12=22
10 Tom Church (Molson Kawasaki) 20+1 =21
11 Jamie Smith (LPE Kawasaki) 9+11=20, 12 Wayne Smith (Pioneer Yamaha) 0+16=16, 13 David Willet (Yamaha) 5+ 9=14, 14 Mark Hucklebridge (Motoxtreme Kawasaki) 7+ 7=14, 15 Jordan Rose (PAR Honda) 14+ 0=14, 16 Bryan MacKenzie (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 13+0=13, 17 Tony Craig (Moto One KTM) 2+8=10, 18 Lewis Tombs (Utag Yamaha) 4+5=9, 19 Jim Murro (STR Honda) 8+0=8, 20 James Lassu (Honda) 0+6=6, 21 Alex Rockwell (Danger Honda) 6+0=6, 22 Brett Hillman (???) 0+4=4, 23 Craig Trew (Honda) 0+3=3, 24 Wayne Garrett (Moto One Suzuki) 3+0=3, 25 Andreas Johansson (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 0+2=2, 26 Ben Brooks (KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Rowson, 2 Noble, 3 Church, 4 Jones, 5 Anderson, 6 Billy MacKenzie, 7 Rose, 8 Bryan MacKenzie, 9 Dark, 10 Lewis, 11 Eastwood, 12 Jamie Smith, 13 Murro, 14 Hucklebridge, 15 Rockwell, 16 Willet, 17 Tombs, 18 Garrett, 19 Craig, 20 Brooks.
RACE TWO: 1 Noble, 2 Crockard, 3 Jones, 4 Anderson, 5 Wayne Smith, 6 Billy MacKenzie, 7 Dark, 8 Lewis, 9 Eastwood, 10 Jamie Smith, 11 Rowson, 12 Willet, 13 Craig, 14 Hucklebridge, 15 Lassu, 16 Tombs, 17 Hillman, 18 Trew, 19 Johansson, 20 Church.
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 8) rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 280 points, 2 Noble 258, 3 Anderson 240, 4 Jones 231, 5 Church 196, 6 Wayne Smith 195, 7 Eastwood 154, 8 Bryan MacKenzie 132, 9 Hucklebridge 124, 10 Murro 102, 11 Lewis 101, 12 Rose 94, 13 Jamie Smith 91, 14 Danny Smyth 79, 15 Gundersen 78,...
NEXT ROUND: Sep 21 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury (Salop MC).
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2008