MOTOCROSS MXGP OF VALKENSWAARD 2016

GP3: Europe (Valkenswaard)

Tough round for the GP riders, good results in the European MX250

The Easter weekend was not the best we could dream in the Netherlands, and most of the Grand Prix riders struggled with the sand, the ruts and the rain in Valkenswaard. Both Shaun Simpson and Petar Petrov had some misfortunes this weekend, but hopefully Even Heibye and Thomas Kjer Olsen got podium in the opening round of the EMX250 championship.Winner last year of two Gp’s in the sand, Shaun Simpson was expecting some great results this weekend but after promising results during the qualifications the Scottish struggled on race day. “I came into the weekend feeling under the weather and although I think Sunday promised quite a bit the only reason I can explain the mistakes is through not feeling 100% and struggling to focus like I normally do. I made the starts and the first moto was more like enduro because the track was so wet and slow and you had to be picky with the lines you could find. I’m not happy. It has taken me a while to try and shake off this virus and while I felt better today than I have been recently I’m still not right. It has to be a priority to do what we can to be near 100% before we head to Argentina and Mexico,” said Shaun who is now seventh in the standings. Still affected by his arm injury, Clement Desalle was on the way to a top ten finish when he was stopped during the last lap of the second heat when a stone damaged his drive chain.In the MX2 class Bulgarian Petar Petrov scored a third position in the opening race and was on his way for another podium when he crashed and damaged his bike. “In the first moto I had a really good start and I was in third, following Jonass closely all the moto. The plan was to push in the last laps to pass him but I lost time behind lappers and didn’t want to take any risks after that. My second start was not bad but not too good either; I was around tenth, made my way to fourth and was fighting with Seewer and Tonkov when we came together in a downhill and I went down. That was not good and the bike was damaged when another rider hit me; I had to go in the pits and probably lost a podium result,” he explained.The opening round of the European MX250 offered better results to the Scott athletes, as Norwegian Even Heibye and Danish Thomas Kjer Olsen finished the race on the podium. Tight in the points, even is currently runner up in the series while Thomas is third; both are closely followed by Australian Hunter Lawrence, impressive for his debuts in Europe.

The GP series will now move in South America, with rounds in Argentina and Mexico.