Shaun Simpson (RFX KTM powered by PAR Homes) will miss this weekend’s MXGP of Germany but the super-quick Scot will return to action at round five of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship supported by Pro Clean at Desertmartin on June 30.
Simpson, a two-time champion, broke his right hand in a first-turn pile-up in the opening MX1 moto at round four of the series at Blaxhall at the start of this month. Since then he’s been forced to miss world championship rounds in Russia and Latvia while he recovers.
“There’s no doubt that the crash at Blaxhall was a set-back for us but you’ve just got to take it in your stride – it’s an occupational hazard when you’re racing professional motocross,” said team manager Dickie Dye. “After clipping the fence and breaking his hand I think he did very, very well to get back on the bike.”
Simpson toughed it out with a 7-4 scorecard at Blaxhall and although he lost the series lead that he’d held since the opening round, when the championship resumes in Northern Ireland he’ll only be five points behind his main rival Tommy Searle.
“We knew pretty much that his hand was broken so to have a seventh and then follow it up with a fourth for fourth overall was a typically tough performance from him,” added Dye. “I know he was in pain but he wants to win the British championship – it’s as simple as that – as do we all and not to have gone out, which probably was medically the sensible thing to do, would have thrown the championship away.
“Since then we’ve really jumped on it – injury recovery is right up my street – and straight away we were focussing on the next Maxxis round at Desertmartin. We had x-rays on the Monday and we knew what we were dealing with.
“It’s all going really well and he’s been working really hard and using the time to get fitter and stronger. Okay, we’ve missed two or three weeks of bike time but overall that shouldn’t make any difference to the big picture. We’re just rolling up our sleeves and getting on with it.”
Picture © Imagerich Media
