Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2025 SX, MX, and SMX series.
Too bad Simpson didn't put it together like this until the last round, it may be too little too late to get a good ride for next year. He's been a consistent outside-the-top-10 rider all year.
The Shop
Yes a bit underrated since moving up to MX1, the top 10 is real hard to get in and stay in. Shaun has worked hard the last few years even it didn't always show. This year, especially the last half, even with adversity (TM deal), he just kept at it. Since Finland he's been showing the lad who was a MX2 title contender. Simply awesome job today. I'm really happy for him and I haven't even seen the race (Lierop) just following the results on-line.
mac3-d - cool you raced with Willie, did you go up against "Merve-the-swerve" to ? Willie Simpson one of the last Maico men.
Congratulations to Shaun - quite well done lad.
Hey TeamGreen, I'll have to look you up next year at Hangtown. Don't know if we've ever met, not that I know that many nor-cal racers, just some of the "retired" ones.
Regards, Paul
https://youtu.be/CVOAPkuNspk
he's actually 9th in the standings, so he was kinda good all year (for a privateer). Hope he can get some good deal done for o14
Geoff got the press conference audio up, think it really shows how down to earth Shaun is compared to some of the robotic interviews we get nowadays
Pit Row
This is one of my favourite photos of all time, of Scottish rider Willie Simpson, father of Shaun.
Willie Simpson was a GP legend. Never blessed with outstanding ability, Willie made up for it with dogged determination and a never-give-up attitude. Willie was always there, plugging away, scoring regular points and occasionally breaking the top ten.
He raced GPs for what seemed like an eternity, and with his wife Vanda they drove all round Europe, away for weeks at a time living in their Fiat 60-10 panel van.
For the Simpsons, hailing from Fife in Scotland meant an 8 hour drive just to get to Dover, the gateway to mainland Europe. As such, for them, it wasn't worth going back home very often, so they’d spend weeks away, living like Gypsies, and being totally self-sufficient.
Willie had no mechanic, and so Vanda would help drive, clean his gear, cook and help Willie work on the bike. She even helped fix the van when the gearbox blew.
With no mechanic can you imagine how tough it is to race 45 minutes in sweltering heat, then have to immediately start cleaning and prepping your bike for the second moto? The above photo just sums up Willie’s dedication.
Willie never got much support, but made a decent living from prize money (remember that?) and start money at French Internationals.
Racing GPs together for several years we became good friends with the Simpson family. Willie and Vanda are great people and would do anything for you. In their last couple of years racing GPs they had given birth to Shaun and he went to all the races too. He would ride around the pits on his little bicycle.
As Shaun grew and started racing himself the Simpsons once again took off on on the GP trail. For the family that had sacrificed so much during Willie's career it had started all over again.
I can't imagine a better motocross father. Willie had been there and done it. A true no-nonsense, down-to-earth working man's hero who would keep Shaun's feet firmly on the ground and instil in him the true value of hard work and determination.
To see Shaun's victory yesterday literally brought a tear to my eye. Everyone, from all countries and teams were cheering for him to win. Shaun is a privateer, who earns a pittance.
35 years, I would guess, is what the Simpson family has devoted to GPs. All that effort, all that work, all that sacrifice and all that pain finally became worth it yesterday.
Willie, Vanda and Shaun, I'm so proud of you.
Willie (right), present day.
Well done Shaun!!
To all us English and Scots fans, yesterday was our "Marty Moates moment", a true privateer taking on the factory teams and coming out on top.
I think everyone of us rode those final few laps at Leirop, fingers crossed willing him on, gasping when he crashed then came back and swept into second place, how Shaun fought off the advances and finally broke DeDyckers spirit. His bike boiling up in moto 1, steam pouring from rad overflow!, "would it last the moto" ? Cairoli going down trying to pass him on the final lap of moto 1 and finally all the mental arithmetic going on to work out what place he needed to secure overall victory, the last man to ever win an MX1 moto as the class will be re-branded MXGP in 2014.
The outpouring of support from the pit boxes, other teams etc was something to see. Never has there been a more popular victory.
Congratulations to Shaun and family, roll on the MXDN!
I waited and watched the replay today to try to get away from the buffering and I knew he won but I was still freaking out haha
so yes the only thing i can say about that is SHAUN SIMPSON THE HERO OF LIEROP
sorry I don't speak English......
Post a reply to: Simpson who?