World Motocross Championships - Round 8 -
Matterley Basin, Winchester - GB

Simpson in the points at Matterley Basin

Team Wulfsport Honda’s Shaun Simpson raised his point tally to eleven for the season after a creditable showing at a warm and sunny British Grand Prix and round eight of the FIM World Championship last weekend. Gordon Crockard also posted his highest moto result to-date.

The official weekend figure of 39,000 fans flocked to the venue close to Winchester and only an hour down the M3 motorway from London. The new Matterley Basin course was a fairly simple if scenic and eye-friendly spectacle. The terrain was hard and dusty in the hot weather conditions and the fine top soil hid hard dirt underneath that provided contrasting levels of grip. The jumps were interesting and well prepared but the technical demands of the course were not particularly testing.

Gordon Crockard has been growing in speed and confidence after taking points in the last four motos and clinched a season-best seventh position in the first sprint after passing fellow Honda riders James Noble and Javier Garcia Vico. The Irishman was denied a wholesome overall result on the first lap of moto2 when a nasty looking first lap crash ended the Grand Prix prematurely and the former 250cc GP winner was left nursing some painful friction burns.

In MX2 Martin Kohut and Scott Probert were victims of the qualification process on Saturday and Shaun Simpson almost missed out on his home Grand Prix also when he slipped from second fastest in the Last Chance session to seventh and the first reserve spot. Belgian Patrick Caps crashed and fractured his collarbone in morning warm-up and the teenager was able to take to the gate. Two steady if slightly nervy rides lead to 19th position on both occasions and gave the Scot suitable recompense for his efforts.

The team head back to prepare for their local round of the Maxxis British Championship next weekend at Desertmartin before traveling to Scandinavia and the Uddevalla circuit for the Grand Prix of Sweden.

Shaun Simpson:
“Patrick Caps broke his collarbone during practice so I was in. I got fired up a little bit and I tried mega-hard. It was not as hot as I thought it was going to be and that suited me. The track was getting better in the second race; a bit more bumpy and technical and not so powdery in the berms. My start was not so good in the first race and a few guys passed me which messed up my head a little bit and I made some mistakes. 19th wasn’t bad but the second moto was similar because I lost ground to a few riders and started to panic. Four points is more than I thought I would have this morning!”