Simpson's the Star' Man'
By TMX Archives on 12th Feb 09
BRITAIN took a hand in winning both classes of the classic opener to the European MX season on Sunday as Shaun Simpson started his KTM factory career with a clean-sweep of the MX2 class at the Mantova Starcross, while the factory Honda with which Kevin Strijbos dominated MX1 was spannered' by Team Martin's other new signing, mechanic Roger Shenton!
Simpson was immaculate and in total control of the 250F class, indeed the Scot, despite a slip as he banged bars with the MX1 leader-board men, crossed the line in the first moto one minute and 14 seconds ahead of Japanese newcomer Yohei Kojima, second in class!
Home country heroes, David Philippaerts and Toni Cairoli, had a nightmare day as the current MX1 world champ fried the clutch in the first two motos while the two-times MX2 title holder, clearly not race-fit, only completed nine laps, crashing six times in the process!
KTM scooped most of the prizes with five of the six podium finishes, but the biggest prize of all the MX1 victory eluded the Orange riders, as Strijbos dominated all day.
I've been riding a production bike in Spain, so I haven't had much time on the factory bike yet and I didn't know what to expect before I came here, admitted the Belgian, who had missed almost all of the 2008 season with a thumb injury which excused open disagreement with last year's employers Kawasaki.
But everything went perfectly. I got great starts, put my head down for a couple of laps and then relaxed. Simple as that!
With no threat from his class rivals, Simpson set about the 450s in style.
The factory bike is amazing, there's not one thing you can point to as different to last year's bike, it is simply better everywhere, and I got top five starts in each of the first two motos against all of those 450s.
I didn't actually come off in the first moto, but I spun round and lost a few places early on.
The second race went even better as Shaun pushed into fourth, chased the MX1 leaders and resisted manfully for a quarter of an hour against a horde of factory 450s: I lost my way for a lap when De Reuver got me and the rest followed him through before I could recover.
Finally out-powered to turn one by the big bikes in the twilight finale, Shaun pushed forward to ninth and rode it home: I just kept my eye on Rui (Goncalves) in that one.
Already in the opening moto, Cairoli had felt Shaun's no-nonsense conviction. I tried to go under him, but he closed the door, muttered the Italian to his mechanic as he came to wheel the Yamaha back to the pits!
Strijbos and Xavier Boog had swept the never-ending; One-on-One; yawn in the morning, but it was Max Nagl, who had reeled in Strijbos during the Saturday qualifier, who holeshot race one and sprinted clear.
I've only been back on a bike for a fortnight and I don't feel race-fit yet, but my aim here was to prove I can still win the starts, so I achieved that.
A week of heavy rain and an overnight storm left soft patches in the track, often disguised by the pre-moto scrapings of the digger, and the German fell foul of one of them: The front wheel just sunk in a slow turn and down I went.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2009
INTERNATIONAL MANTOVA STARCROSS MX
Circuit Tazio Nuvolari, Mantova, ITALY
MOTO ONE: 1 Kevin Strijbos (B - Martin Honda), 2 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki), 3 Max Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM), 4 Jonathan Barragan (E - Silver Action KTM), 5 Josh Coppins (NZ - Rinaldi Yamaha), 6 Clement Desalle (B - LS Honda), 7 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki), 8 Shaun Simpson (GB - Red Bull KTM*), 9 Tanel Leok (EW - De Carli Yamaha), 10 Marc de Reuver (NL - Martin Honda), 11 Manuel Priem (B - Aprilia), 12 Gareth Swanepoel (ZA - KRTE Kawasaki), 13 Julien Bill (CH - Aprilia), 14 Yohei Kojima (J - Teka Suzuki*), 15. Michal Kadlecek (CZ - RSC TM), 16 Manuel Monni (I - 3C Yamaha*), 17 Marcus Schiffer (D - Sarholz KTM*), 18 Steven Frossard (F - CLS Kawasaki*), 19 Alex Salvini (I - Tecno3 Husqvarna), 20 Rodrig Thain (F - TM), 21 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM*), 22 Xavier Boog (F - Teka Suzuki*), 23 Alessandro Lupino (I - De Carli Yamaha*), 24 Lars Oldekamp (D - Silent Sport KTM*), 25 Loic Rombaut (F - CLS Kawasaki*), 26 Ken Roczen (D - Teka Suzuki*), 27 Petr Smitka (CZ - Sarholz KTM*), 28 Roberto Lombrici (I - Ricci Yamaha*), 29 Deny Philippaerts (I - 3C Yamaha*), 30 Loic Leone (F - JK Aprilia).
MOTO TWO: 1 Strijbos, 2. Barragan, 3 Nagl, 4 de Reuver, 5 Coppins, 6 Ramon, 7 Simpson*, 8 Goncalves*, 9 Schiffer*, 10 Desalle, 11 Boog*, 12 Swanepoel, 13 Bill, 14 Pascal Leuret (F - JK Multitek Honda*), 15 Gregory Aranda (F - CLS Kawasaki), 16 De Dycker, 17 Priem, 18 Leok, 19 Monni*, 20 Kojima*, 21 Thain, 22 Smitka*, 23 Roczen*, 24 Deny Philippaerts*, 25 Oldekamp*, 26 Kenny Van Dueren (B - KTM*), 27 Martin Michek (CZ - TM), 28 Gianluca Martini (I - Rossi Suzuki*), 29 Rombaut*, 30 Kadlecek.
MOTO THREE: 1 Strijbos, 2 David Philippaerts (I - Rinaldi Yamaha), 3 Barragan, 4 Nagl, 5 Ramon, 6 De Dycker, 7 Coppins, 8 Leok, 9 Simpson*, 10 Goncalves*, 11 Bill, 12 Swanepoel, 13 Schiffer*, 14 Monni*, 15 Aranda, 16 Roczen*, 17 Lupino*, 18 Michek, 19 Rombaut*, 20 Van Dueren*, 21 Kadlecek, 22 James Noble (GB - Suzo MVRD Suzuki), 23 Christophe Martin (F - Tecno3 Husqvarna), 24 Oldekamp*, 25 Nick Triest (B - Shineray Honda*), 26 Leonce, 27 Lombrici*, 28 Davide Turchet (I - Rossi Suzuki*).
NB: Asterisk (*) denotes MX2 class rider
MX1 OVERALL: 1 Strijbos 75 points, 2 Barragan 60, 3 Nagl 58, 4 De Dycker 47, 5 Coppins 46, 6 Ramon 45, 7 Leok 34, 8 Swanepoel 34, 9 Bill 33, 10 de Reuver 30, 11 Desalle 29, 12 Philippaerts 22, 13 Aranda 21, 14 Kadlecek 21, 15 Priem 20,... 21 Noble 7,...
MX2 OVERALL: 1 Simpson 75 points, 2 Goncalves 59, 3 Schiffer 58, 4 Monni 53, 5 Kojima 41, 6 Roczen 38, 7 Oldekamp 34, 8 Boog 34, 9 Lupino 33, 10 Rombaut 32, 11 Frossard 27, 12 Van Dueren 24, 13 Lombrici 24, 14 Smitka 22, 15 Deny Philippaerts 21,...
Britain's Shaun Simpson started his KTM-factory career in cracking form as he took maximum points in MX2 class.