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Simpson back in the points at Donington The British Grand Prix at the newly created off-road facility within Donington Park represented the penultimate round of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship and the second meeting inside the United Kingdom in a week for the Irish Team Wulfsport squad. Shaun Simpson finished 20th overall but the meeting was more notable for witnessing his first batch of points since breaking his wrist five rounds ago. He was seventeenth in both motos and scored twice for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix in May. MX1 rider Mark Jones made his second appearance of the season since a knee rebuild and qualified in 27th but was unable to finish in the top twenty on both occasions. After qualifying without any problems (although an engine failure meant he was down to one bike) Simpson started mid-pack in front of 28,000 spectators and under sunny but breezy conditions. The elongated layout was placed in the infield of the MotoGP circuit and consisted of a hard-pack soil and many jumps. Simpson, still recovering from his breakage and coming back to full fitness, fought his way among the top twenty in a pair of 35 minute and 2 lap motos that were without major incident and thankfully any free of any major spills “Coming into this weekend I have obviously had a long time out and I was in a bit of a hole really after breaking my wrist, “ he said. “My speed wasn’t so great but it was OK. The amount of jumps took a lot out of you and my fitness was not there. I’m happy I took points in both motos and I feel I am getting out of that hole. We have the last GP next week but it would be nice to come back strong for the final round of the British Championship at Pontrilas two weeks later. It was not an overly impressive weekend here but I am happy enough with two consistent rides. It was one of those tracks whereby if you got the start, then you got the finish.” Mark Jones completed his second MX1 Grand Prix of the year (and since the latter stages of 2006) and guided his KX450F machine to 27th (from 30) in Timed Practice but stalled the four-stroke once in each moto, the second occasion forced a small crash that dropped him out of another points-scoring position. Jones picked up his first world championship point in Ireland last week. “I qualified in 27th which was OK because I knew it was going to be difficult as the track was quite fast and hard and obviously jumpy,” he commented. “In the first moto I think I was laying about 16th and catching a few people but I stalled the bike and lost my rhythm half way through. In the second one I was running 19th with three or four guys in front of me and I was trying to use higher gears everywhere but stalled the bike again and went down. I feel that my speed and confidence are coming back now.” Simpson is 24th in the world championship standings and is unlikely to rise any higher as he faces a gap of 19 points with just one round remaining. “This was our second home Grand Prix and both Shaun and Mark rode well today,” reviewed Team Owner and Manager Roger Magee. “They both finished their races which after the injury problems they’ve had was good work. Shaun was seventeenth twice on a track that was very difficult to pass on and more like an outdoor supercross than a proper Grand Prix track in my opinion. Mark had a bit of bad luck, in the second race especially, when it looked as though he would be in the points again but had a small crash with three laps to go. At least both riders are improving their fitness every week and we now have just two big meetings left this season.” Wulfsport
Kawasaki head across to mainland Europe this week as the final round
of the world championship will take place next weekend with the
Grand Prix of the Netherlands at the sandy Lierop circuit. Simpson
has shown good speed there in the past two years but was able to
post good results after breaking his leg in 2005 and collarbone
twelve months ago.
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