Shaun Simpson and LS Honda make history‏

Mont-Saint
Guibert - Nineteen
years after Billy Liles from Georgia (USA) captured the Open Belgian
Motocross title LS Honda Racing's Shaun ‘Braveheart’ Simpson (23)
became the second ever non-Belgian rider to win the highly regarded
series! Simpson is originally from Gauldry, Fife in Scotland but
lives in Overpelt, Belgium during the motocross season. Shaun ended
his day in Mont-Saint Guibert -situated 40 kilometers south-east of
Brussels- fifth overall while team mate Ken De Dycker made a stunning
comeback to racing. De Dycker posted a near perfect scorecard with
two wins and a third. The spectacular Belgian ultimately grabbed the
runner-up position in final standings as well, he was joined on the
day’s podium by Rui Goncalves (Honda World Motocross) and Anthony
Boissière (Monster Energy Yamaha). 


Under
sunny skies the day’s racing kicked off with a holeshot for
Goncalves ahead of Guarneri. De Dycker had a decent start and quickly
made his way up to pass Guarneri with over 12 minutes to go. The LS
Honda Racing rider with the number 9 crossed the finish line almost 6
seconds ahead of his Italian adversary. Shaun Simpson finished sixth
behind Estonia’s Tanel Leok.

Both
Shaun and Ken suffered extremely bad starts in the second moto. It
was Leok who grabbed the holeshot in front, but Guarneri continued to
display his great MX of Nations form to take control of the 25 minute
plus one lap sprint. De Dycker tackled the scenic sand quarry track
with typical enthusiasm and made his way through the pack. From 23st
at the start Keeno surprisingly managed to catch up with the leading
riders in the final stages. After an entertaining race coming from
behind he passed Boissiere, Van Daele and Leok on the last two laps
to finish third. Guarneri won, Portugal’s Rui Goncalves was second.
Simpson managed to fight back to eighth, sufficient to wrap up the
Belgian title with one moto to go! After the British MX2 title in
2008, it’s a second major championship title on the Scott’s
career tally.

Goncalves
was first out of the tight lefhander, but De Dycker had a good start
in the final moto. Ken quickly moved ahead of the pack and would lead
from start to finish. Facing an empty track he steered his CRF450R to
an amazing 1:45.218 in the second lap, more than four seconds faster
than his nearest rivals. No one could recover from De Dycker’s
dominant opening and he recorded his fifth moto triumph in this
season’s Belgian championship. Goncalves was now second after the
unfortunate Guarneri had made a big crash. Frenchman Boissiere
crossed the line in third. Simpson put in a solid performance for
fifth place, his best result of the day.

Shaun
Simpson, Belgian Champion 2011:
“In the first moto I was a bit tense and suffered arm pump. That
was fine in the second and the third moto, but I didn’t have a
great feeling with the bike today. So I just rode carefully and tried
to do what I could. Starting from the worst position on the gate
after I had some problems in qualifying was not helping either!
Anyway I’m happy for my team, my fans and the sponsors to take the
Belgian title. I was consistent, but unfortunately I didn’t win any
races. It was not an easy season, but I capped it off in a positive
way and I would like to thank everyone who supported me. This was
probably my last race of the season, so I’m really looking forward
to some rest and I’m very excited about 2012!”

Ken
De Dycker, Mont-Saint Guibert overall winner:
“Actually I didn’t expect that it would go so well! We had some
great conditions here and I loved racing this track. My second moto
was the most difficult because I was a bit too late for the start and
messed up my start after that. On top of that a stone knocked the
lens out of my goggles so I had to stop to adjust (this). But
catching up to get third in that race was not so bad. The other two
races went perfectly, I just had to be careful to pace myself because
I’m nowhere as race fit like I was earlier in the season. I hadn’t
been racing for weeks so these three motos were pretty brutal. My
arms were sore and I felt a bit stiff, however I’m not complaining.
Going into hibernation with a win under your belt feels great!”

Race
1:
1.
Ken De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing),
2. Davide Guarneri, 3. Anthony Boissiere, 4. Jeremy Delincé, 5.
Tanel Leok, 6.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing),
7. Cyril Coulon, 8. Nick Triest, 9. Rui Goncalves, 10. Manuel Priem


Race
2:
1. Davide Guarneri, 2. Rui Goncalves, 3.
Ken De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing), 4.
Tanel Leok, 5. Marvin Van Daele, 6. Anthony Boissiere, 7. Thomas
Allier, 8.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing),
9. Manuel Priem, 10. Cyril Coulon


Race
3:
1.
Ken
De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing),
2. Rui Goncalves, 3. Anthony Boissiere, 4. Marvin Van Daele, 5.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing), 6.
Manuel Priem, 7. Jurgen Wybo, 8. Nick Triest, 9. Jeremy Delincé, 10.
Cyril Coulon

Mont-Saint
Guibert classification -> Full
results here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=719799
1.
Ken De Dycker (BEL, LS Honda Racing) 70 pts,
2. Rui Gonçalves 56, 3. Anthony Boissiere 55, 4. Davide Guarneri 47,
5.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing) 44,
6. Marvin Van Daele 41,7. Jeremy Delincé 39, 8. Manuel Priem 38, 9.
Nick Triest 36, 10. Cyril Coulon 36



Open
Belgian Motocross Championship final standings
1.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing), 356 pts, 2. Ken De Dycker (BEL,
LS Honda Racing) 311,
3. Davide Guarneri 306, 4. Clément Desalle 216, 5. Marvin Van Daele
206, 6. Kevin Strijbos 199, 7. Steve Ramon 184, 8. Jeremy Delincé
170, 9. David Cools 156, 10. Nick Triest 150

NEXT
RACE: Ken
De Dycker will participate in the Superbiker at Mettet, the world’s
biggest supermoto race, in two weeks time