Simpson takes his first Maxxis British title
By TMX Archives on 22nd Sep 08
2008 Maxxis British Motocross Championship Round 8 - Hawkstone Park, Shropshire.
Shaun Simpson KTM UK clinched the 2008 Maxxis ACU British MotocrossChampionship with two consistent outings in the MX2 class earliertoday.
This marked the first adult National title for Simpson, with himhaving finished fifth in the series last year. Shauns hopes of successlooked to have disappeared when he broke his collarbone with still tworounds remaining, but an heroic performance at the penultimate eventput him in the driving seat ahead of todays deciding meeting.
The twenty year old from Fife went into the final round at the famousHawkstone Park circuit with a healthy fifteen point lead over his archrival Stephen Sword Molson Kawasaki, but with all the pressureassociated with the expectation that surrounded him. Two averagestarts, by the usual holeshot grabber, meant Simpson had much work todo in both motos as he came through the pack in order to finish asrunner up to Sword on both occasions.
Whilst Shaun would have loved to round out his 2008 domestic campaignin winning style, the youngster showed great maturity and patience tobring his orange machine home safely in the two gruelling races to takethe title by a calculated nine points, as well as finishing as runnerup on the day.
Simpson had hoped for an easier closing meeting, with the newlyappointed World number four having expressed his great liking for therugged and sandy Shropshire circuit prior to the final round showdown.
At the previous round on similar going, Shaun had shown his supremacyover Sword on soft ground, but with the Kawasaki teamster looking tohunt down his younger rival it was a different story this time around.A scorching hot day left the track dry and dusty, and much harder thanusual, which in turn made conditions out on track slippery anddifficult. Whilst Simpson signaled his intent by setting the quickesttime during the morning qualifying session, he had no need to answerSwords blistering pace when it came to the racing.
With Simpson having climbed to fourth in the World rankings thisseason, his British title brings to a close two highly successfulcampaigns, that have really put Shaun on the map this year. Nextweekend will see Simpson represent Great Britain in the MX of Nationsat Donington Park, a good showing here on home soil would be theperfect ending to a dream season for the highly popular Scottish rider.
Visibly delighted and equally relieved Shaun spoke about his day. Itfeels great to have finally wrapped up the championship, especiallyafter today.
Although I knew I had a good lead over Swordy, I have felt andridden tense in both races. I never got a good gate in either race, soI made it tough for myself, as the last thing I wanted to do was tohave to start taking risks. As it was I managed to get into acomfortable second place in both races, where I felt quite safe withouthaving to push too hard.
Simpson continued. Its a shame I didnt take the title with a win,but in the end it is the championship that matters. I am reallypleased, not just for myself, however for the team and my family, plusall those other people who have supported me throughout the series. Itfeels good now, but I am sure it will feel even better in the morning.With this out of the way, I am now looking forward to the Nations,which hopefully will be a great end to a fantastic year.
Results:
MX2 Moto One: 1: Sword 2: Simpson 3: Osborne
MX2 Moto Two: 1: Sword 2: Simpson 3: Swanepoel
MX2 Overall: 1: Sword 50 2: Simpson 44 3: Swanepoel 36
Championship Final Standings: 1: Simpson 342 2: Sword 333 3: Barr 245
Next event: MX of Nations - 28th September Donington Park