Home Grand Prix for Wulfsport does not go to plan

The thirteenth round of fifteen in FIM Motocross World Championship not only saw Team Wulfsport Kawasaki return to international competition but also face their home Grand Prix for the Northern Irish stop on the schedule at the new Moneyglass Demesne circuit with a full-strength line-up for the first time this season.

Shaun Simpson came back to MX2 after a two meeting absence and recovering from a broken wrist while Mark Jones steered the KX450F Kawasaki in the MX1 category in what was his Grand Prix debut for the Irish set-up after needing six months rehab from a knee reconstruction.

Sadly a busy weekend for the friendly crew did not provide the best set of results as misfortune struck. Both Simpson and Jones were finding their way back into the thick of the action against the fastest off-road racers in Europe but there were not assisted by a kind hand of lady luck.

Simpson’s rapid lap in qualification was not correctly registered and then the Scottish teenager had an ignition problem in the first moto of 35 minutes and 2 laps that forced him out of the race. He was circulating near the rear of the pack in Moto2 but later caught some of the green fencing in his rear wheel and again had to pull out.

“It was a rubbish weekend to be honest,” admitted Simpson. “My first and fastest lap in qualification didn’t count because of the timing programme being reset or something like that. So myself and Martin Barr ended up with a really bad positions on the gate. Warm-up went OK and I felt like I was learning the track. In the first race I started alright but came together with someone and the collision put a hole in the casing and twisted the ignition so the bike started misfiring. In the second I had a mediocre start and ran into the green fencing. The bike was running fine though and I began to get a bit of a rhythm going but three or four laps from the end I went near the mesh again out of a corner and it got caught in the wheel and did some damage. I was annoyed as I could have been near the top ten. We just have to look towards next weekend now and hope it is a bit drier.”

Welshman Jones landed heavily on the finish-line jump in the formative stages of the opening MX1 sprint and retired with a painful wrist and knock to his knee. He went out again for the second race and despite several crashes – one of which damaged the rear end of the bike – gained the team’s sole point of the weekend for twentieth position.

“I’m glad to be here and my main thing was to qualify this weekend,” he reflected. “We had to switch engines as well so it was a bit dramatic. In the first moto I cased the finish-line jump and my hands came off the bars and I crashed quite heavily on my knee. The bars were all bent so I couldn’t carry on. In the next race I made a jump around the back when I was in twentieth and Aigar Leok went full gas and completely knocked the bike from under me. I got going again but my goggle roll-off broke and Lauris Freibergs landed on my back later in the race! We haven’t been testing much obviously and the suspension wasn’t the best for me here. I had one more small crash but kept going to the flag and to be honest that one point was more than I was expecting. I think a bit more time on the bike and things will be better.”

“A few weeks ago we thought we might not have any riders for our home GP and that would have been disappointing but after last week’s British Championship they both came through the race OK,” said Team Principal Roger Magee. “The rain did not help the riders or the organisers but the track did show that it could cope with whatever elements are thrown at it which is positive for the Nations next year. Both Shaun and Mark had some bad luck and it was particularly disappointing for Shaun to have two DNFs, we can only hope for better at Donington next week.”

The brand new Moneyglass Demensne saw 18,500 fans travel to the venue that will host the 61st Motocross of Nation next September. The site had been battered by rainfall that caused the normal Saturday practice and qualification schedule to be cancelled in favour of a single session for each class. Thankfully raceday was dry but a cold wind gave a wintry edge to proceedings. The gusts did help the terrain drain and the lively and jumpy layout gained a wealth of positive response from the riding fraternity for the lines and inventiveness it allowed. Only criticism of the soft jump take-offs and landings were aired.

Simpson is now 24th in the world championship standings as the team face two more Grand Prix in the next two weeks that bring the 2007 campaign to a close. First up is the British round at Donington Park followed by a trip to Lierop in the Netherlands.

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