The Wilvo Yamaha MXGP outfit embarked on a journey into the unknown this past weekend, as the new venue of WW Motocross Park was the seventeenth stop on the FIM Motocross World Championship calendar. The circuit is situated near Jacksonville, a popular tourist destination, and just a couple of hours north of Orlando.
Shaun Simpson was the sole representative for the squad in the USA, as Arnaud Tonus continues to recover from injuries sustained at the Swiss Grand Prix, and entered with momentum on his side, as he finished second overall at a Belgian event a week ago. That speed was again on show in the qualifying heat, as Simpson jostled with the reigning world champion and charged to tenth at the chequered flag.
A respectable gate pick was acquired, as a result of that, but ‘24’ struggled to put that to good use in the first of two motos. Sixteenth was the position that he held at the end of the first official lap, but he then immediately engaged in an exciting tussle that gripped those who lined the fences. After duking it out with some established names for a majority of the first encounter, Simpson prevailed and passed the chequered flag in twelfth.
Attention then swiftly turned to the second and final MXGP encounter, which took place in humid conditions. Simpson had a worse start in that race, as he completed lap one in nineteenth, but wasted no time and started to cut through the guys ahead of him. After working up to fifteenth, Simpson made a costly error on the jump before pit lane and had to withdraw from the race. That left him in eighteenth overall on the day, but he still occupies seventeenth in the championship.
Wilvo Yamaha MXGP will now return to Europe and prepare for the next round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, which will take place at Assen next weekend. The Grand Prix of The Netherlands will act as the penultimate round of the MXGP series.
Shaun Simpson: “We have been working hard during the week and putting the motos in, but I felt like I should have been a lot further up the track today. I felt a bit better in the second moto, but went down in the first corner and then the front end washed out just before pit lane and sent me off the side of the track. I am fine, fortunately, but I’m just frustrated, as it is not really my style to DNF a moto.”
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