De Dycker triumphs in Mons, Simpson third‏

Mons
- After vice Belgian
titles in 2008 and 2009, Ken De Dycker has his eyes set on a first
domestic crown in the highly regarded Lotto Trophy/Belgian MX
Championship. The tall Belgian started his national campaign in
terrific form today in Mons. The 26-year-old took the overall win and
claimed two dominant victories. Only in the last race of the day he
was outgunned by home rider Desalle. Teammate Shaun Simpson enjoyed a
consistent day (4-3-4) and was rewarded with his first ever podium
finish in the Belgian Championship. De Dycker is of course the first
leader in the Lotto Trophy standings, a seven-round series. 


Compared
with the last edition in 2007), the Bois Brulé track was updated in
several places. However the core remained the same; a testing
combination of deep sand and a winding technical layout in a forest.
De Dycker grabbed the pole in qualifying ahead of Van Horebeek and
Desalle. Simpson who had last ridden at the former GP track in 2006,
posted the fourth fastest time.

Marc
De Reuver took the holeshot in the first moto, but the LS Honda
Racing duo Simpson and De Dycker was right behind him. Keeno didn’t
waste his time and quickly grabbed the lead, never to relinquish his
position at the front. The 5.000 strong crowd saw De Dycker building
up to an impressive 14 second advantage over Clément Desalle in the
shortest, 20 minutes plus one lap, race of the day. De Reuver was
third, Simpson tried his best to catch the Dutchman, but he stranded
at less than 2 seconds, while the difference with Desalle was less
than 6 seconds.


Belgian
champion Ramon was the first to exit the spectacular first
left-hander in the second moto. Jurgen Van Nooten was on his tail,
but Simpson and De Dycker, respectively third and fourth in the start
immediately charged on. Simpson held on to second behind leader Ramon
in the opening stages. This time Ken showed a little more patience,
albeit the emphasis is here on a little rather than patience! Because
after a crash of Ramon, it was De Dycker who steered his CRF450R into
the lead after only three rounds. Ken then pulled the pin and
produced some extremely fast laps, allowing him to build a very
healthy lead similar to the one he enjoyed in the opening moto.
Behind the dominant LS Racing Honda rider Desalle had moved into
second. Despite the increasingly demanding state of the track Simpson
remained unfazed. The 23-year-old Briton rode his own pace, coming
home in third, barely more than 2 seconds after vice world champion
Desalle.

In
the final race of 30 minutes plus two laps the holeshot honours went
to Desalle. With Ramon in second De Dycker in third and Simpson in
fourth, the two Honda mounted riders started to put the leaders under
pressure. Just over half race distance Ken pushed on to take control
of the race. With a bold overtaking move on the table top jump at the
back of the start-finish K9 passed Desalle. The Dycker seemed on the
way to a well-deserved hattrick, unfortunately back pain forced him
to back off at the very end of the race. This allowed Desalle to
recover, while De Dycker claimed second in front of Ramon, Simpson
and the Italian Guarneri

Ken
De Dycker: "Mons
is always physically demanding and this was certainly the case today.
My victories and my speed were certainly a positive way for me to
get my revenge after the disappointing start I had in the World
Championship last week in Bulgaria! Because of my crash in the
opening moto in Sevlievo I was pretty beat-up on the left side; I had
hurt my hip, leg, back and groin... Everything was painful! Last
week I wasn’t able to train properly so given the circumstances it
was no surprise to me that I didn’t have anything left for Desalle
when he came back in the final moto."

Shaun
Simpson: "I knew
I was going to be in for a tough one here! But overall I am satisfied
with my results. I feel strong at the moment but there is certainly
still room for improvement because I haven’t been riding in the
sand so much in recent weeks. Except for the last race I always had
an excellent start, and my speed was okay. Only Ken (The Dycker),
Clement (Desalle) and Steve (Ramon) were faster. With Ken winning and
me third, its been a good day for LS Honda Racing at their home
championship, which is great for the team and all their sponsors."

Moto
1: 
1.
Ken De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing), 2.
Clément Desalle 3. Marc De Reuver 4.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing), 5.
Steve Ramon 6. Herjan Brakke 7. Davide Guarneri 8. Nick Triest 9.
Jeremy Delincé 10. Jurgen Van Nooten 11. Michael Van Wezel 12.
Manuel Priem 13. David Cools 14. Eric Foguenne 15. Maartren Govaert
16. Kristof Salaets 17. Andy Truyts 18. Steven Engelen 19. Mika
Makinen 20. Jeremy Van Horebeek 


Moto
2:
1.
Ken De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing),
2. Clément Desalle 3.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing), 4.
Marc De Reuver 5. Davide Guarneri 6. Steve Ramon 7. Jeremy Delincé
8. Herjan Brakke 9. Nick Triest 10. Kristof Salaets 11. Kim Lindstrom
12. Petar Petrov 13. David Cools 14. Mika Makinen 15. Eric Foguenne
16. Jurgen Van Nooten 17. Andy Truyts 18. Steven Engelen 19. Michael
Van Wezel 20. Maarten Govaert 

Moto
3: 
1.
Clément Desalle 2. Ken
De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing), 3.
Steve Ramon 4. Shaun
Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing),
5. Davide Guarneri 6. Herjan Brakke 7. Kim Lindstrom 8. Nick Triest
9. Jeremy Delincé 10. Petrar Petrov 11. Kristof Salaets 12. David
Cools 13. Eric Foguenne 14. Jurgen van Nooten 15. Maarten Govaert 16.
 Andy Truyts 17. Mika Makinen 18.Steven Engelen

Classification
Mons and Lotto Trophy-Belgian championship standings
1.
Ken De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing) 72,
2. Clément Desalle 69 3.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing) 56, 4.
Steve Ramon 51, 5. Davide Guarneri 46, 6. Herjan Brakke 43, 7. Nick
Triest 38, 8. Jeremy Delincé 38, 9. Marc De Reuver 38, 10. Kristof
Salaets 26

NEXT
WEEKEND: Ken De Dycker
and Shaun
Simpson will take part in the second MX1 GP of the season in
Valkenswaard, Holland.