World Motocross Championships - Round 12 -
Namur - Belgium

Crockard with second-best moto finish of the year at Namur

Wulfsport Honda’s Gordon Crockard captured his second highest race result with 6th position in the first MX1 moto of the Grand Prix of Belgium at the historic Namur circuit near the French border. 30,000 fans watched the twelfth round of fifteen in the FIM World Championships that saw the 2006 contest decided in the favour of Stefan Everts for the third year in succession.

The Citadelle track normally provides a beast of a motocross experience for the riders and this year was no different. In fact heavy August showers in the days before the event made the mud soggy, soft, very rough and even harder-going. The course is unlike any other on the calendar. Its length (2400m), narrow-ness (barely two metres wide in some parts) near-vertical drops and tree-lined danger is more akin to Enduro even if most riders are initially dulled to the threat by the sense of occasion, atmosphere and history dripping from the branches of the thick foliage.

Team Manager Roger Magee arrived Sunday morning after his daughter won the Ulster junior double Championship on Saturday. He was able to see his MX1 rider take his second highest finish of the season in the first moto. Crockard started well in both races and moved into a comfortable 6th initially where he was annoyed by an inability to demote fellow Honda compatriot Ken de Dycker for further promotion. The result was still a decent accomplishment and ranks as one of his finest this term after the 4th place taken in Sweden last month.

The Irishman and former GP winner was again tussling for positions inside the top ten in moto two but in a charged quest to pass James Noble he crashed and slipped down to 20th whereupon he fought back to 16th for a ranking of 11th overall.

In MX2 Shaun Simpson was thoroughly enjoying his weekend and qualified comfortably through the heat. He then captured 15th in Moto1; like Crockard his second highest result of the year, and was looking strong for an even better placing later in the day until an engine problem prematurely ended the Grand Prix.

Crockard holds 15th place in the standings, one point from further promotion and 65 from tenth place with only 150 remaining to be won in the final three races visiting Ireland, Holland and France. Shaun is 29th and 10 points from the next position.

Wulfsport Honda will now travel back to the UK and begin to prepare for the seventh round of eight in the Maxxis British Championship that will take place at the Wakes Colne circuit next week. A free weekend then follows before the thirteenth event of the World Championship, and the squad’s home Grand Prix at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland. Gordon Crockard will take part in a press conference on Tuesday (8th August) with ’06 World Champion Stefan Everts to promote the Irish meeting.

Gordon Crockard:
“The first race was dead-on. I got by Leuret but De Dycker had a much better line than me up the step-ups and he passed me twice there which was doing my head-in. I was trying to catch him as much as I could and I was getting frustrated because the laps when I was pushing hard I was wasting a lot of energy and almost losing time but then there were other laps when I was just riding the track quite mindlessly and I seemed to catch him! It was a bit of a vicious circle I got myself into. Sixth was good and there was a big gap back to seventh. In the second race I came round again in the top ten which I was quite pleased with. I wanted to move forward quickly but again De Dycker came past me up the hill which I could not believe. I was stuck behind James Noble for four laps and I was desperate to get by. I did every single manoeuvre I could think of to get around him.
I then tried a take-out pass that didn’t work. I wasn’t far enough alongside his bike to get by so I had to back-out of it at the last minute and then he was wise to where I was looking to get through. I tried again on the next lap and he cleverly braked. I hit his bike but not enough for it to knock me in the direction of where I wanted to go. I ran straight on and into this old dirt that slipped me into the fence. That was on the steep uphill and I had to push my bike up to be able to turn-around and roll back down to start again. I was feeling pretty depressed down in 20th and eating roost. I got back to 16th but felt pretty sorry for myself that I went for that move. I suppose in hindsight I could not have sat behind Noble any longer. He ended up finish 6th which adds salt to the wound because if I had stayed with him then we would have pulled through. I thought he was going quite slow, that’s why I was eager to overtake. 6th was good and now Desertmartin is next so I will be training in the sand.”

Shaun Simpson:
“The first moto was pretty good. I got passed a couple of times but then some other guys dropped out. I was 14th but Aigar Leok overtook me on the last lap. It came down to one corner. If I had have gone inside he would have gone outside and vice-versa so either way he would have had a good chance at passing me. Aigar has been ‘on it’ this year and has had some decent finishes so I was happy to be riding with him. The second race was looking even better. I was around 6th coming out of the first turn but made a mess of the whoops. I was 12th on the first two laps but then the bike bent a valve going up under the bridge. It was a shame as a top 15 should have been realistic for that one. I think I have the speed and I am getting stronger and stronger every week.”

Roger Magee:
“We arrived a bit late but it was worth the journey. Gordon showed his pace yesterday and but just let those in front of him frustrate him a little bit. In the second moto he pushed up to seventh past Noble but then went down in a slippery uphill corner. He went back to 20th and then up to 16th which was disappointing because the overall result could have been so much better. Shaun has shown that he has come back from his shoulder injury well by coming through the heat strongly and having a decent outing. He had some good points with 15th in the first race and was 12th in the second when unfortunately the bike seized. We just have to take it on the chin. We are looking to Desertmartin now. We have a press conference with Stefan and Gordon on Tuesday. In some way we want Stefan to win his 100th Grand Prix in Ireland but we also want Gordon to beat him!”