Hitachi Revo KTM’s Shaun Simpson scores his his first MXGP win of 2015 at the MXGP of Belgium in Lommel.
Hitachi Revo KTM’s Shaun Simpson scored a 1-1 sweep for his first MXGP win of 2015 at the MXGP of Belgium on a sandy and very demanding Lommel circuit in Belgium, Sunday.
Team Yamaha Yamalube’s Romain Febvre shot out to the early lead in the first MXGP moto, but Simpson quickly went on the attack and took over the lead before the end of the first lap, with Febvre and Team Honda HRC’s Gautier Paulin, while Paulin’s teammate Evgeny Bobryshev slipped past Suzuki’s Glen Coldenhoff for fourth place.
Febvre kept the pressure on Simpson and appeared to be set to strike as Simpson began to make a series of small mistakes, but then Febvre made a big one himself when he augered into the sand while negotiating a right-hand turn on lap five. Febvre was able to remount quickly, losing only one position to Paulin. Febvre then crsahed again a few laps later while attempting to retake second place from Paulin, and the Frenchman lost more ground, although he was able to hang onto third place. Paulin then tried to close the gap on Simpson late in the race, but Simpson was able to take his first MXGP moto win of the year with a few seconds in the bag.
Febvre again looked strong as he powered into the lead at the start of moto two with Dean Ferris and Paulin slotting into second and third place, respectively, while Simpson got away in fourth place, just ahead of Bobryshev. Ferris quickly made a mistake and dropped back to 12th place, leaving a tight battle for the lead among Febvre, Paulin and the quickly advancing Simpson. Paulin would get by Febvre and lead the first seven laps of the race.
Simpson kept pace with Paulin, hanging about 3 seconds behind Paulin before putting on a charge to close that gap on lap eight. Simpson caught Paulin and then got a stronger drive around the outside of a left-hand corner to make a clean pass on Paulin for the race lead. From there, Simpson pulled clear of Paulin, who then fell into the clutches of Febvre, potentially losing two more points to the man that he is chasing for the World Motocross Championship. Paulin wasn’t having any of that, and he retook second place with Febvre then electing to play it cool to the finish, knowing that he still had a massive series points lead.
The race almost took a dramatic turn when Simpson came up short and cased the quad jump with just two laps remaining, but he had already built up a strong lead over Paulin, and he was able to retain the lead and go on to record his first MXGP win of the season with 6 seconds to spare.
“It was tough, I’m not going to lie,” Simpson said. “That one was hard work but worth every lap that I’ve done, training, every lap that the team has put in, every minute that my dad’s gave for me, and my mom, my girlfriend…They’re just amazing. They really are. To just see the crowd going wild for me once again was just unbelievable. I finally done it–two moto wins and the overall–so I’m absolutely pumped.”
Paulin still leads the MXGP series with a healthy 84 points over Paulin, 547-463, while Bobryshev, who finished fourth overall at Lommel is third in the standings with 423 points.
The MX2 class was dominated by Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie, who dominated the field in the Lommel sand to join Simpson as an overall winner via a 1-1 moto sweep.
“Latvia was my first 1 – 1 result [and] it felt a lot easier there than it did here,” Anstie said. “The track here was so physically demanding, but we managed to get the job done while searching for the right settings.”
While Anstie took the overall win, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass took over the series points lead in the absence of teammate Jeffrey Herlings by riding to a pair of second-place finishes for second overall. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Petar Petrov put in two good motos at Lommel, the Bulgarian finishing third overall.
As for other MX2 title contenders, Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser finished sixth overall while Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod had a disastrous day, carding a DNF in moto two after landing on Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Belgian Brent Van Doninck who had crashed on the blindside of a jump.
2015 FIM Motocross World Championship
MXGP of Belgium
Stedelijk Motorcrossterrein Lommel
Lommel, Belgium
Results: August 2, 2015 (Round 14 of 18)
MXGP Overall
1. Shaun Simpson (SCO)-KTM/1-1
2. Gautier Paulin (FRA)-Hon/2-2
3. Romain Febvre (FRA)-Yam/3-3
4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS)-Hon/5-4
5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL)-Suz/7-5
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL)-Yam/4-9
7. Todd Waters (AUS)-Hus/8-6
8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED)-Suz/6-12
9. Tyla Rattray (RSA)-Kaw/12-7
10. Gert Krestinov (EST)-Hon/9-10
2015 FIM MX2 Series Points Standings (After 14 if 18 rounds)
1. Romain Febvre-547
2. Gautier Paulin-463
3. Evgeny Bobryshev-423
4. Antonio Cairoli-416
5. Maximilian Nagl-360
6. Shaun Simpson-356
7. Clement Desalle-331
8. Jeremy Van Horebeek-324;
9. Glenn Coldenhoff-290
10. Kevin Strijbos-287
MX2 Overall
1. Max Anstie (GBR)-Kaw/1-1
2. Pauls Jonass (LAT)-KTM/2-2
3. Petar Petrov (BUL)-Kaw/3-4
4. Julien Lieber (BEL)-Yam/6-3
5. Harri Kullas (FIN)-Hus/4-5
6. Tim Gajser (SLO)-Hon/5-7
7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI)-Suz/8-8
8. Benoit Paturel (FRA)-Yam/10-9
9. Jordi Tixier (FRA)-Kaw/7-12
10. Brian Bogers (NED)-KTM/11-13
2015 FIM MX2 Series Points Standings (After 14 if 18 rounds)
1. Pauls Jonass-433
2. Tim Gajser-429
3. Jeffrey Herlings-423
4. Valentin Guillod-408
5. Jeremy Seewer-395
6. Jordi Tixie-393
7. Max Anstie-387
8. Julien Lieber-340
9. Petar Petrov-262
10. Benoit Paturel-259
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