MOTOCROSS MXGP OF LOMBARDIA 2015

GP14: LOMBARDIA

Fourth place for Simpson in Lombardia

Fifteenth round of the World Championship, the Grand Prix of Lombardia, was the first of the final stages of the series. Riders are now facing the last four rounds (Lombardia, Netherlands, Mexico and USA) over the course of only five weeks! Winner in Lommel earlier this month Shaun Simpson narrowly missed another podium, while Jordi Tixier got injured in a crash.

After his win in the Belgian GP, Shaun Simpson hasn’t had a break. His victory was followed up with a flight to the US, in order to compete in one of the rounds of the American series in Unadilla. Fourth in this race, Simpson was able to get some extra support from the KTM factory during his US experience and also on the GP side, as all the factory riders are injured at the moment. Fifth and third in Lombardia, Shaun was pleased with his weekend. “I really had that ‘Factory feeling’. On Saturday I was disappointed because of the mistake and bad result in qualifying, but today I showed that it’s not about Saturday, it’s about Sunday, and we had some good points. I’m really positive about the bike, the team setup and about my opportunity until the end of the season. So let’s work hard this week and maybe we can be one step better in Assen,” said an enthusiastic Shaun who is now fifth in the standings. Former Scott Athlete Steven Frossard unfortunately crashed hard during the first moto and suffered a back injury.

Frenchman, Jordi Tixier also crashed in Mantova, which will most likely end his season. The reigning World Champion had to undergo surgery to replace two bones in his left hand. Brit Max Anstie won again in the MX2 class, coming back in the battle for the World title with Latvian Pauls Jonass and Slovenian Tim Gajser. Both Petar Petrov and Thomas Covington had bad gate picks after crashing in the qualifying race. Petrov still managed to score a seventh overall, right behind Brent Van Doninck who was a regular in the Italian sand and was the best Scott representative in this class.

The series will move next weekend to a new location for Motocross, as Assen (Netherlands) is well-known as a ‘temple’ of road racing. It will be the last GP in Europe, the World Championship will end in Mexico and USA.