WESTON
BEACH RACE
Weston Super Mare, Great Britain, 12th Oct 2008
Weston
Beach Race 12th October 2008
Shaun
Simpson KTM UK rounded off his 2008 season with an unexpected
second place on his debut at the World famous Weston Beach Race.
The three-hour sea front battle at Weston-Super-Mare was won by
the sand man himself Stefan Everts, who will be Simpson¹s mentor
when he moves to the factory KTM team next year.
Whilst having
not confirmed his participation in this unique event until late
this week, Shaun showed that he was a serious contender as early
as the first lap. Despite being at a disadvantage against the bigger
capacity bikes on the initial sprint down the long start straight,
Simpson rounded the first corner in a top ten position.
As the action
shifted to the never ending line of massive dunes, the Scot started
to show his pedigree and quickly made his way up the order to have
the early leader and eventual victor Everts within his sights mid
way though the first lap. Shaun made a brave move to pass the sand
king, but his glory was short lived as he then lost the front end
as he dropped down one of the steep virgin descents.
Undeterred the
recently crowned MX2 British motocross champion was soon back in
action, and had managed to get himself back into fourth spot as
he crossed the line for the first time. With many of the other headline
names dropping by the wayside as the race progressed, the twenty
year old once again showed great maturity as he settled into a solid
rhythm that would keep Everts within his sights.
Swift and well
executed pit stops after an hour and then at the two hour mark saw
Simpson pause only briefly for fuel, drink and fresh goggles on
both occasions, with the KTM 250SX-F two-fifty four stroke machine
not missing a beat throughout this gruelling encounter. Come the
end of the three hour race, only the front three riders had managed
to complete eighteen laps, with Shaun coming home just a couple
of minutes behind Everts to take a worthy runners¹ up place
on his MX2 bike.
Around one hundred
thousand fans watched the twenty sixth edition of this annual race
in glorious weather, with temperatures on the South West coast reaching
the early twenties. Shaun¹s father Willie Simpson was the winner
of the first ever Weston Beach Race back in 1983.
Speaking
after the race Simpson said. "That was mega, I loved every
minute of it, and I am so glad that I have finally had the chance
to ride this great race. I made a good start, but perhaps should
have opted to follow Stefan rather than passing him on the first
lap. Despite losing out on power in some places, I was making up
good time in the motocross part of the track. "
Shaun
continued. "The second hour was the hardest as I forgot to
put my drinks pack on during the first pit stop, so I got quite
dehydrated. The last hour was OK as I picked it up on my second
stop, and that gave me an extra spurt for the final push. To finish
second behind Stefan on a two-fifty four stroke is a great result
both for me and KTM."
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