Round 15 – World Championship –
Faenza, Italy, 14th September 2008

Simpson ends 2008 world championship in 4th place

The Grand Prix Citta di Faenza, the fifteen and final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship closed the best ever season for the KTM UK MX team as Shaun Simpson completed the Italian meeting with 6th position and fourth place overall in the final classification of the series.

Around a damp and bumpy surface at the venue a short distance from the town of Imola and watched by 30,000 fans Simpson engaged in battle with rival Nico Aubin for third spot in the class but ultimately was unable to overhaul the Frenchman’s points advantage, even if he did beat the Yamaha rider in Moto1 when he rode to 6th place.

Moto2 was a little trickier, with a rougher track, and the Scot’s lack of sharpness was evident as he took 9th. Simpson has finished a career-best fourth position in the world championship and obtained his first podiums with two third positions in Bulgaria and Sweden.

“I suppose I should be quite happy with fourth but being so close to third means that it takes the edge off it a little bit,” he admitted. “I just did not have that extra half second to get near the top five today and that was a bit disappointing. I am sure I will look back on this season and have great cause to feel happy and proud. We did a great job. We have to close the year now with Hawkstone next week before the Nations; bring it on!”

British Under-21 Champion Alex Snow was unlucky not to qualify on Saturday when he held 12th position in the qualification heat (the last place before the cut-off mark) until the final corner. He then just missed out on making the grade on the Last Chance session.

Sadly MX1 representative James Noble ended the international season pretty much in the same way as it had begun; with injury woes. The Englishman was not present in Faenza as his right hand was still too stiff and painful in the wake of the practice crash the week beforehand that ruled him out of the Grand Prix of Benelux. Noble still has a chance at the 2008 MX1 Maxxis British Championship with the final round due to take place next week.

“If someone had said to us twelve months ago when we joined up with KTM that Shaun would be 4th in the world it would have been seen as optimistic and if we had said this as a team then people would have laughed at us,” said Team Principal Roger Magee “but we did it this year and he is still leading the British Championship. It was a shame we had that accident at Loket where he broke his collarbone because he has been playing catch-up in the GPs ever since. Sadly this is what racing can be about. I can only say that he will have the number 4 plate for next year, and we all saw who won with that number this season. We will be sad to see him go, but we will wish him all the best in the factory KTM team. I would also like to add my congratulations to KTM for the MX2 championship.”

Hawkstone Park in fact will be the first of two remaining and important meetings for the team. Simpson leads the MX2 series approaching the last domestic round this coming weekend and then will have to prepare for his first ever appearance for Great Britain at the 62nd Motocross of Nations at Donington Park. Noble meanwhile has only a 22 point deficit to defending champion Billy Mackenzie, with 50 still left to win.