Engine problems stifle Bulgarian adventure

Shaun Simpson, Team Wulfsport Kawasaki’s representative in the FIM Motocross World Championship left a hot Sevlievo circuit and the Grand Prix of Bulgaria with zero points and a frustrating double DNF after experiencing mechanical problems at the eighth round of fifteen in the 2007 series.

The wide expanses of the track, flanked by a circuit infrastructure that was the recipient of the ‘Best Organiser’ gong at the FIM Off-road Awards in 2006, was a hard, fast and jumpy test. 26,000 spectators came to the impressive venue.

Simpson was on for a good qualification spot in Saturday’s heat race until the recurring mechanical problem began to surface, forcing the Scot to stop and then enter the Grand Prix via the Last Chance session in which he was third fastest. He rolled up to the start gate for the 35 minute and 2 laps motos in a lowly 28th position from 30 limiting his chances around the 160 degree first corner.

The same small hitch affected both races. An unpredictable output of power from the engine after four laps meant that Simpson was unsure of committing to the bigger jumps and the bike toiled on the long hills. He soldiered through the race and eventually had to retire three laps from the end. A bike switch for Moto2 still did not cure the mysterious carburetion glitch. It was another luckless and fruitless meeting for Simpson after an untimely fall last week in France also prevented him adding to his world championship tally.

“The track was better than last year but still it was very fast and not really to my liking,” he said. “There was nothing I could do. The bike was bogging and we were at a bit of a loss to find out why. We asked around and other people could not explain it. We were working in the dark. After three or four laps it was playing up. It was strange that it was on both bikes and we will look at things this week to see how we can solve it. Hopefully we can get it sorted for next week. I like Desertmartin, but going there with little confidence is not what I really wanted.”

“It seems that we have a carburetion problem at the hot races,” said Team Manager Roger Magee. “We experienced this in Portugal and again this weekend. It was 44 degrees in the awning on Saturday. Once we get back to the UK we want to sort it out but it is difficult to get those conditions! We hope we can knuckle down and get some good results in the British Championship at Desertmartin next week.”

Simpson fills 23rd position in the MX2 World Championship standings; only 10 points from scaling a possible five places.

The team now travel back to the UK to prepare for a series of races in Northern Europe. The fifth round of the Maxxis British Championship takes place at Desertmartin next Saturday and is followed by the Grand Prix of Sweden at Uddevalla the week after. Round six of the British series visits Whitby in Yorkshire seven days later then the team head south to Faenza and Italy for round ten of the World Championship before a deserved break.

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