Round 10 – World Championship –
Nelspruit - South Africa - 20th July 2008

Simpson 5th in South Africa

KTM UK MX’s Shaun Simpson captured a decent fifth position under prickly sunshine at the South African Grand Prix at the Nelspruit circuit and even gained ground on third position in the 2008 MX2 World Championship standings.

The tenth round of fifteen occurred in front of 20,000 people who crowded the well-prepared and technically demanding layout located near the Kruger National Park and almost 300 miles north-east of Johannesburg.

Simpson enjoyed the track from the off. He caught world champion Antonio Cairoli and Kawasaki rider Steven Frossard in the second qualification heat but could not find a way past and had to settle for third position (meaning sixth place in the gate for the GP motos).

Another set of lively starts on his production 250 SX-F saw the Scot penetrate the top four of the leaderboard in the two races. A pair of largely error-free and consistent rides – the type that have come to signify his status as the brightest young talent to emerge from the MX2 class this season – produced finishes of fourth positions, leading to fifth overall. He has now not dropped out of the top six for the last seven motos and closed the gap to third in the world championship to 70 points, while holding a margin of 44 over Nico Aubin in fifth.

“I’m happy but at the same time not really, to have two fourth positions and not make the podium is a bit disappointing,” he said. “I tried my best but Frossard was too strong and it wasn’t good enough for the rostrum. I made up some points on Cairoli in third and only lost a few to Aubin behind me. The track was really hard, much more than I thought it would be, you were up and down on the pegs a lot and I felt quite tired after the second moto. I am looking forward to Foxhills now next week and then we go to Lommel and the sand, which will be hell!”

In the MX1 class James Noble was slightly disappointed to take 14th position in Timed Practice but it would reflect what would be a difficult weekend for the Englishman who could only count on a double finish of the same ranking in the races and had to run a gauntlet of a sharp low sun and dark shadows on the circuit in Moto2. He also weathered a long period in Moto1 without any front brake.

“It has been a bit of a disappointing day really. I lost my front brake earlier on in the first moto and it was madness in that second race, the sun was low and it was scary at times. I got up to sixteenth and did not want to take any risks for just one or two points more. I am not that happy but already looking towards next week.”

The team began the trek back to Europe from Johannesburg on Monday. The eleventh round of the world championship takes place slightly closer to their Dutch base with the Grand Prix of Belgium occurring at the sandy depths of the Lommel circuit in two weeks time. In the interim they face the sixth round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Foxhills this weekend.

At yesterday’s penultimate round of the Under 21 British Motocross Championship held at Blaxhall Pits, Team KTM UK’s 3rd rider – Alex Snow - won overall with P1 & P2 to extend his lead to 17 points going into the final round on August 31st 2008 at Cusses Gorse.