Round 11 – World Championship –
Lommel - Belgium - 03 August 2008

Simpson sees podium chance go begging in Belgium

KTM UK were unlucky to walk away from the Grand Prix of Belgium at the pernicious Lommel circuit without any podium champagne after Shaun Simpson finished 9th overall. The Scot was 5th in the first moto under grey skies and in front of 27,000 spectators but a first corner incident that also involved works KTM riders Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle left him at the back of the field and he rode hard through the pack in the most difficult conditions of the season so far to place 12th.
The team are more than familiar with the Lommel circuit having clocked up many practice and training hours around the flat sandy expanses. Although the layout had changed for the Grand Prix the same rough, rutted, grinding and physically-sapping terrain meant the riders had little time for breath around the course and the track provided arguably one of the hardest tests of 2008.

Simpson, who will sadly end a four year association with the team at the end of the season after having signed a two year contract with the works KTM team, was holding 3rd place in the closing minutes of the first race but had unveiled his final surge of energy too early and fell victim to the movements of Rui Goncalves and Joel Roelants. In the second outing he could not avoid the fallen pair in front of him and embarked on a tiresome response through the pack; a performance that was interrupted by another incident that was not his fault. The second charge resulted in 12th and was admirable, leaving the 20 year old exhausted.

“It was always going to be a bit of a lottery today on a track like that and you had to get a good start and make the laps count early on,” he said. “In the first race I was doing OK but ‘went’ a bit too early and Rui had something more at the end. In the second moto on the second lap Dougan came across the front of me and I landed on his mudguard; it took about 20-30 seconds to get going again. It was pretty stressful and meant that I had to push the whole way after that. To come through to 12th wasn’t too bad. I’ve caught up with Cairoli some more now and things are looking positive; onto Loket where we will keep the wire tight and hope for the best.”

Overall, Simpson ate 25 points into the absent and injured Tony Cairoli’s margin in third place. He now has to work on accumulating 45 points in the four remaining Grand Prix to enjoy a top three standing in the world. Future factory team-mate Rui Goncalves is 33 behind.

In MX1 James Noble suffered a crash on Saturday that left him with sore ribs and then another spill on Sunday that aggravated his shoulder. Two poor starts in the motos and the extreme conditions meant that he withdrew from both outings.
“We came to Lommel hoping to continue our consistent run of results and certainly in the first race Shaun rode very well,” said Team Principal Roger Magee. “He may be pushed a little too early and missed out on third but the accident at the start of the second moto was a bit of a freak occurrence. He then collided with someone on the landing of a jump and he was back last again, so 12th was an achievement considering. We closed some points to Cairoli and hopefully with some regularity in the next few races we can take that third place in the championship. “
“James had a difficult day in MX1,” he continued. “He crashed yesterday and seemed to hurt his ribs and then had another ‘off’ in the first race that damaged his right shoulder. All-in-all with two bad starts it was too much to ask of him to come back.”

KTM UK will now head east to the small town of Loket, several kilometres from the idyllic spar town of Karlovy Vary, for round 12 of 15 and the Grand Prix of Czech Republic.
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