Shaun Simpson in pole position for Belgian title

Orp-le-Grand
- Belgian
Championship leader Shaun Simpson produced a consistent performance
at Orp-le-Grand, the sixth round of seven race series. Although the
LS Honda Racing rider had been feeling slightly under the weather
last week he placed fourth behind Christophe Pourcel, Jeffrey
Herlings and Davide Guarneri in what is generally considered one of
the strongest domestic motocross series in the world. Shaun now leads
the championship with a healthy 53-point lead over Italian Guarneri
going into the last round at Mont-Saint-Guibert on the 25th of
September.


In
spite of torrential showers in the week leading up to the race riders
were treated to a unique and technical old school track in fine form,
especially given the conditions. The Orp-le-Grand course is often
dubbed ‘the small Citadel‘ due to its resemblance to the
legendary Citadel GP track in Namur. Still Simpson and his CRF450R
hit the ground running in the morning with a fourth qualifying time
in spite of heavy traffic during the short qualification
session.

For
the first sprint of the day Simpson didn’t have the best of starts
but he managed to climb up to fourth in the second lap. While Shaun
was all over Strijbos‘ rear wheel he couldn’t make the pass and
lost one position himself to Herlings. Keen to improve on his fifth
place in the opener the 23-year old Scot had a better jump from the
gate in the second moto. Shaun circulated as high as third but was
not fresh enough to keep the hard-charging Guarneri at bay. In the
end he would cross the finish line in a lonely fourth position.

With
the last moto of the day being the longest, Simpson had to dig deep
to get another strong result. Shaun got out of the gate well behind
Pourcel and Herlings. While the Belgian Championship leader pushed to
get his first podium finish of the day he had to had to let Guarneri
get by. Simpson in the end came home fourth ahead of Roelants,
Strijbos and Priem.

Shaun
Simpson: “It
can be better, I really think I should be on the podium today but
Christophe Pourcel and Jeffrey Herlings were riding really good. But
Davide (Guarneri) was also very strong. Maybe fourth was where I
belonged after a difficult week because I was sick. Hopefully I can
seal the championship at the last round in Mont-Saint Guibert that
would be a nice way to end the season as well!”

Race
1:
1. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki); 2. Davide Guarneri (ITA,
Kawasaki), 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL,
Suzuki), 5.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing),
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 7. Nick Triest (NED, KTM), 8.
Jeremy Delincé (BEL, KTM), 9. Jurgen Wybo (BEL, Kawasaki), 10.
Marvin Van Daele (BEL, Honda)

Race
2:
1. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki); 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED,
KTM), 3. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), 4.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing),
5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 6. Joël Roelants (BEL, KTM), 7.
Manuel Priem (BEL, Yamaha), 8. Jurgen Wybo (BEL, Kawasaki), 10.
Pascal Rauchenecker (OOS, KTM) 

Race
3: 1.
Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki); 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM),
3. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), 4.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing),
5. Joël Roelants (BEL, KTM),
6.
Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 7. Manuel Priem (BEL, Yamaha), 8.
Jurgen Wybo (BEL, Kawasaki), 9. Marvin Van Daele (BEL, Honda), 10.
Yentel Martens (BEL, KTM)

Orp-le-Grand
classification:

1.
Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 75p, 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED,
KTM), 64p, 3. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), 62p,

4.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing), 52p,
5. Jurgen Wybo (BEL, Kawasaki), 38p, 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki),
33p, 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 31p, 8. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL,
KTM), 31p, 9. Marvin van Daele (BEL, Honda), 30p, 10. Manuel Priem
(BEL, Yamaha), 28p

Lotto
Trophy standings:

1.
Shaun Simpson (GBR, LS Honda Racing), 312p, 2.
Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), 259p, 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Honda),
241p, 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 216p, 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL,
Suzuki), 199p, 6. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 184p, 7. Marvin van
Daele (BEL, Honda), 165p, 8. David Cools (BEL, Kawasaki), 156p, 9.
Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM) 139p, 10. Jeremy Delince (BEL, KTM), 131p

NEXT
RACE: Shaun
Simpson will race the GP of Europe in Gaildorf, Germany next weekend