Motocross is a hard sport, and two veterans of the sport, Evgeny Bobryshev and Shaun Simpson have very much learnt once again the hard way how when everything feels great, you can be bitten very quickly.
BOS GP rider Bobryshev, started training much earlier this year and felt in better condition than ever, his endurance was improved, and he felt confident on his new Kawasaki machine. However, he crashed hard in Spain just over a month ago and is now nursing an injured wrist.
“I had done three days riding in Redsand,” Bobryshev said. “On the third day, I went over the bars on the big table-top. I got a kicker on the take off and I jumped off the bike and landed heavy on my side and landed on my wrist. It was big impact, so I was hurting all over. I got a check-out, the bones are good the ligaments are good, but the meniscus is damaged from impact. I am struggling to be honest. I saw the doctors today and my plan was to race in France (International race), but we cancelled those plans. At the moment I do the training, physical training, and riding, I will do, but just steady. I don’t want to push in training, I just want to be on the bike, so my body remembers that. I then go to Argentina and I know it isn’t great, but that is what it is.”
As for Simpson, who rides for the RFX KTM Racing team, he was riding the high of his life with the birth of his first child, a young man named Angus just a week ago. Heading to a pre-season race in England the Scotsman couldn’t have felt any better, and while he was riding well, a crash saw him dislocate his collarbone, a similar injury that occurred at the Brazilian Grand Prix a few years ago.
“Maybe I was riding on a bit of a high with Angus arriving that week,” Simpson said. “Riding good, new team, new bike, people to prove wrong, going out there having a lot of fun. I just got carried away with myself a little bit. Made a couple of mistakes in the first race, which I would like to say cost me the win. I had opened a gap and finished an easy third. Second race another holeshot and a lack of concentration moment and it bit me hard. The shoulder did dislocate for a couple of minutes, but as you would know it popped out in Brazil a couple of years ago, and I managed get it back in, taped it up and rode the second moto. It was a slight glitz in the plan, but nothing to worry about too much.”
So while both Bobryshev and Simpson might be a little battered and bruised, you just know that these two veterans won’t be looking for the easy way out. Head down, and fight until they can’t fight anymore. How they do in the opening round of the MXGP championship in Argentina, we don’t know, but their results will be full of determination and desire to continue putting the best performance possible forward.
Photo Credit: Elliot Spencer
Author: Geoff Meyer
