Simpson on top at Mantova
Red Bull KTM factory rider Shaun Simpson made a winning start to the 2010 season when he took the overall victory in the MX2 class at the traditional opening event in Mantova, Italy for the second year in a row. The young Scot was dominant throughout the weekend, and only a couple of bits of bad luck stopped Shaun from making a clean sweep on both days. The sand circuit in the north of the country coped well with the heavy rain that fell in the week before the event, and with bright sunshine and blue skies on race day conditions were as good as could be expected for this time of year.
Having missed most of last year due to injury Simpson has worked hard over the winter months with his Dutch trainer Twan to arrive at the start of the new season in good shape.
Image by Ray Chuss
Showing no signs of the leg injury that robbed him of much of 2009 or any ill effects of his operation to his shoulder late last year, Shaun signaled his intentions by topping the first free pratice session on Saturday morning. His best lap, which was nearly a full second faster than his team mate Musquin, was even quicker than any of the MX1 riders at this point in the day.
Confirming that his initial showing was no fluke Shaun was even more dominant in the second free practice session, and recorded a time some four seconds better than reigning MX2 World Champion Musquin. In fact only home favourite Tony Cairoli managed to beat Simpson’s time in the MX1 class, as the twenty-one year old showed the true potential of the 2010 factory MX2 machine, which is pretty much new from the ground up.
Simpson converted this speed into a comfortable lead in the MX2 qualifying race on Saturday afternoon, and had stretched his advantage to nearly five seconds before he made a small mistake that handed his rivals the lead. The resulting crash put Shaun down in third spot and left him with a slightly twisted ankle. Due to the short nature of the race, the KTM teamster consolidated his position, knowing that this would still give him a good gate pick for Sunday’s three races.
A good start in the opening MX1 / MX2 mixed class moto saw Simpson move into a top ten position after the initial few turns despite having been out powered by the larger capacity bikes in the sprint to the first corner. Having easily established himself as by far the best placed MX2 rider Shaun was still not content and started to make his way past the MX1 riders ahead of him. A fine fourth place at the flag was the reward for his efforts, as the next best MX2 rider was Roczen in eleventh spot.
A similar story was unfolding in the second mixed moto, with Shaun again battling against the MX1 riders at the front of the pack, whilst his MX2 rivals found themselves much further down the field. With another top five finish looking a real possibility, Simpson’s progress was halted when De Reuver hit the young Scot in one of the slower speed corners. With his rhythm broken Shaun slipped back to seventh, but this was still enough to be the highest placed MX2 rider for the second race in a row.
Simpson’s chance of making three wins out of three were lost early in the final outing, as he found himself on the deck and dead last after an unavoidable racing incident as he and De Reuver found themselves fighting for the same piece of track. Unable to start the factory four stroke machine, the pack had long gone by the time Shaun had managed to fire his orange mount back to life. An inspired ride saw Simpson claw his way into the top fifteen come the finish, to become the second MX2 rider home on this occasion, which in turn was enough to give him the overall class win.
Simpson spoke about his winning weekend. “The plan was to come here and have some fun, to ride well, but perhaps not to win as I expected both Musquin and Roczen to be both fast and strong. Things went well from the start with some good speed in qualifying, just one small mistake in the qualifying race spoilt what otherwise was a perfect Saturday.”
“I made a couple of good starts in the first two motos and gave myself a good chance of making some strong results. Apart from coming together with De Reuver in the second race I managed to stay out of trouble during the first two motos. I got a good start in the final race, but got squeezed out as we headed towards the second turn. The next thing I knew I was on the deck. It was hard work coming back through, but in the end I managed to do enough to take the overall win.” Continued Shaun.
“It’s a positive start to the season, but I will not be getting carried away, as the plan remains to be fully ready for the first GP, so I will be looking to have some more fun at the next few meetings rather than putting myself under pressure before the championship begins.” Simpson ended.
Mantova – Starcross 2010
Moto One: 1: Cairoli 2: Philippaerts 3: De Reuver 4: Simpson 5: Barragan
Moto Two: 1: Cairoli 2: Desalle 3: Leok 4: Ramon 5: De Reuver 6: Albertson 7: Simpson
Moto Three: 1: Leok 2: Desalle 3: Cairoli 4: Ramon 5: Albertson…..14: Simpson
MX2 Overall: 1: Simpson 72 2: Musquin 65 3: Tonus 56
Keep up to date with Shaun’s season on his official website at www.shaunsimpson.com
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