Simpson 5th in South Africa

KTM UK MX’s Shaun Simpson captured a decent fifth position under prickly sunshine at the South African Grand Prix at the Nelspruit circuit and even gained ground on third position in the 2008 MX2
World Championship standings.

The tenth round of fifteen occurred in front of 20,000 people who crowded the well‐prepared and technically demanding layout located near the Kruger National Park and almost 300 miles north‐east of
Johannesburg.

Simpson enjoyed the track from the off. He caught world champion Antonio Cairoli and Kawasaki rider Steven Frossard in the second qualification heat but could not find a way past and had to settle for third position (meaning sixth place in the gate for the GP motos).

Another set of lively starts on his production 250 SX‐F saw the Scot penetrate the top four of the leaderboard in the two races. A pair of largely error‐free and consistent rides – the type that have come to signify his status as the brightest young talent to emerge from the MX2 class this season – produced
finishes of fourth positions, leading to fifth overall. He has now not dropped out of the top six for the
last seven motos and closed the gap to third in the world championship to 70 points, while holding a
margin of 44 over Nico Aubin in fifth.

“I’m happy but at the same time not really, to have two fourth positions and not make the podium is a
bit disappointing,” he said. “I tried my best but Frossard was too strong and it wasn’t good enough for
the rostrum. I made up some points on Cairoli in third and only lost a few to Aubin behind me. The track
was really hard, much more than I thought it would be, you were up and down on the pegs a lot and I
felt quite tired after the second moto. I am looking forward to Foxhills now next week and then we go to
Lommel and the sand, which will be hell!”

In the MX1 class James Noble was slightly disappointed to take 14th position in Timed Practice but it
would reflect what would be a difficult weekend for the Englishman who could only count on a double
finish of the same ranking in the races and had to run a gauntlet of a sharp low sun and dark shadows on
the circuit in Moto2. He also weathered a long period in Moto1 without any front brake.

“It has been a bit of a disappointing day really. I lost my front brake earlier on in the first moto and it
was madness in that second race, the sun was low and it was scary at times. I got up to sixteenth and did not want to take any risks for just one or two points more. I am not that happy but already looking
towards next week.”

The team began the trek back to Europe from Johannesburg on Monday. The eleventh round of the
world championship takes place slightly closer to their Dutch base with the Grand Prix of Belgium
occurring at the sandy depths of the Lommel circuit in two weeks time. In the interim they face the sixth
round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Foxhills this weekend.

At yesterday’s penultimate round of the Under 21 British Motocross Championship held at Blaxhall Pits,
Team KTM UK’s 3rd rider – Alex Snow ‐ won overall with P1 & P2 to extend his lead to 17 points going
into the final round on August 31st 2008 at Cusses Gorse.
www.ktmukmx.com

MX2 Moto1
1. Tommy Searle (KTM); 2. Nico Aubin (Yam); 3. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 4. Shaun Simpson (KTM); 5. Steven
Frossard (Kaw); 6. Xavier Boog (Suz); 7. Marvin Musquin (Hon); 8. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 9. Jeremy Van
Horebeek (KTM); 10. Stephen Sword (Kaw); 11. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 12. Pascal Leuret (Suz); 13. Manuel
Monni (Yam); 14. Greg Aranda (Kaw); 15. Alessandro Lupino (Yam); 16. Jake Nicholls (Suz); 17. Jeremy
Tarroux (KTM); 18. Deny Philippaerts (Yam); 19. Michael Kok (KTM); 20. Elliot Banks‐Browne (Suz)

MX2 Moto2
1. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 2. Tommy Searle (KTM); 3. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 4. Shaun Simpson (KTM); 5.
Nico Aubin (Yam); 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (KTM); 7. Xavier Boog (Suz); 8. Marvin Musquin (Hon); 9.
Anthony Boissiere (KTM); 10. Pascal Leuret (Suz); 11. Jake Nicholls (Suz); 12. Jeremy Tarroux (KTM); 13.
Stephen Sword (Kaw); 14. Manuel Monni (Yam); 15. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 16. Alessandro Lupino
(Yam); 17. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 18. Michael Kok (KTM); 19. Deny Philippaerts (Yam); 20. Ross Branch
(Kaw)

MX2 Overall Classification
1. Tommy Searle (KTM); 2. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 3. Nico Aubin (Yam); 4. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 5. Shaun
Simpson (KTM); 6. Xavier Boog (Suz); 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (KTM); 8. Marvin Musquin (Hon); 9.
Pascal Leuret (Suz); 10. Stephen Sword (Kaw); 11. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 12. Jake Nicholls (Suz); 13.
Manuel Monni (Yam); 14. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 15. Jeremy Tarroux (KTM); 16. Anthony Boissiere (KTM);
17. Alessandro Lupino (Yam); 18. Greg Aranda (Kaw); 19. Michael Kok (KTM); 20. Deny Philippaerts
(Yam)

MX2 World Championship standings (after 10 of 15 rounds)
1. Tyla Rattray (416); 2. Tommy Searle (395); 3. Antonio Cairoli (357); 4. Shaun Simpson (287); 5. Nico
Aubin (243); 6. Rui Goncalves (241); 7. Xavier Boog (211); 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (197); 9. Steven
Frossard (196); 10. Manuel Monni (187); 11. Marvin Musquin (173); 12. Stephen Sword (170); 13.
Anthony Boissiere (158); 14. Jeremy Tarroux (140); 15. Davide Guarneri (133); 16. Greg Aranda (101); 17.
Joel Roelants (99); 18. Gautier Paulin (95); 19. Carl Nunn (73); 20. Wyatt Avis (56)

MX1 Moto1
1. Steve Ramon (Suz); 2. David Philippaerts (Yam); 3. Jonathan Barragan (KTM); 4. Max Nagl (KTM); 5.
Ken De Dycker (Suz); 6. Tanel Leok (Kaw); 7. Billy Mackenzie (Hon); 8. Sebastien Pourcel (Kaw); 9. Josh
Coppins (Yam); 10. Manuel Priem (Kaw); 11. Julien Bill (Hon); 12. Marcus Schiffer (KTM); 13. Steve
Boniface (Hon); 14. James Noble (KTM); 15. Carlos Campano (Yam); 16. Tom Church (Kaw); 17. Richard
Van Der Westhuizen (Suz); 18. Anthony Raynard (Yam); 19. Brandon Wheeler (Suz); 20. Kyle Bowen
(KTM)

MX1 Moto2
1. Jonathan Barragan (KTM); 2. Max Nagl (KTM); 3. Sebastien Pourcel (Kaw); 4. Josh Coppins (Yam); 5.
Billy Mackenzie (Hon); 6. David Philippaerts (Yam); 7. Ken De Dycker (Suz); 8. Steve Ramon (Suz); 9.
Manuel Priem (Kaw); 10. Clement Desalle (Suz); 11. Tanel Leok (Kaw); 12. Marcus Schiffer (KTM); 13.
Steve Boniface (Hon); 14. James Noble (KTM); 15. Tom Church (Kaw); 16. Carlos Campano (Yam); 17.
Richard Van Der Westhuizen (Suz); 18. Brandon Wheeler (Suz); 19. Johannes De Bruin (Yam) 20. Anthony
Raynard (Yam)

MX1 Overall Classification
1. Jonathan Barragan (KTM); 2. Max Nagl (KTM); 3. Steve Ramon (Suz); 4. David Philippaerts (Yam); 5.
Sebastien Pourcel (Kaw); 6. Josh Coppins (Yam); 7. Billy Mackenzie (Hon); 8. Ken De Dycker (Suz);
9. Tanel Leok (Kaw); 10. Manuel Priem (Kaw); 11. Marcus Schiffer (KTM); 12. Steve Boniface (Hon); 13.
James Noble (KTM); 14. Clement Desalle (Suz); 15. Tom Church (Kaw); 16. Carlos Campano (Yam);
17. Julien Bill (Hon); 18. Richard Van Der Westhuizen (Suz); 19. Brandon Wheeler (Suz); 20. Anthony
Raynard (Yam)

MX1 World Championship standings (after 10 of 15 rounds)
1. David Philippaerts (339); 2. Steve Ramon (328); 3. Josh Coppins (316); 4. Ken De Dycker (296); 5.
Jonathan Barragan (284); 6. Sebastien Pourcel (274); 7. Max Nagl (253); 8. Billy Mackenzie (235); 9. Tanel
Leok (234); 10. Marc de Reuver (178); 11. Clement Desalle (173); 12. Manuel Priem (160); 13. Julien Bill
(141); 14. Kornel Nemeth (115); 15. Mike Brown (107); 16. Aigar Leok (97); 17. Marcus Schiffer (95); 18.
James Noble (93); 19. Tom Church (66); 20. Steve Boniface (63)

By: KTM UK, Photo: Paul McCready