Courtesy of Youthstream Media
Once again a bunch of riders had success over the weekend as they prepared for the Grand Prix of Sweden this coming weekend. Shaun Simpson, Max Anstie, Tim Gajser and Filip Bengtsson enjoyed success as they contested races in England, Germany and Sweden.
For Simpson of the Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM team, it was his fifth victory of the season in the British Motocross Championships as he went 2-1-1. Simpson now has an 84 lead in the standings.
The Defending MX1 champion in England was just too strong for his rivals, although he did get some serious hurry up from another GP rider in Steven Frossard. Frossard posted 1-2-2 results but lost out due to Simpson having a stronger third moto. Simpson was more than happy with his victory.
“I knew I had to win the last moto to have the overall, and when I crashed I knew that I would have to give everything I had to make that happen,” Simpson said. “What started as a difficult day turned into a really satisfying one; I wasn’t going to give up. I think that last moto showed a lot about how we go racing.”
In the MX2 class in England Max Anstie scored 1-1-1 results to take the victory ahead of Steven Lenoir 2-2-8 and EMX250 championship leader Steven Clarke who scored 3-5-3 results for third overall.
Reigning Swedish MX1 champion Filip Bengtsson of the 24MX Honda team made a strong return to race action last weekend at the third round of his domestic series in Västerås. Bengtsson dominated the event with a double moto win. He was joined on the podium by Filip Thuresson and Viktor Björklund. Bengtsson mentioned how happy he was go to into his home Grand Prix with the victory behind him.
“I’m pleased with my victory and how the weekend went in general. If you’ve been away from racing for a while it always takes a little adjustment! In many ways this was the perfect practice before Uddevalla. Today the track was very slippery and fast, quite tricky conditions actually. Then there was the heat which was pretty remarkable for Sweden. It reached 35° C today, but I know my fitness is good so I felt fine. The qualifying moto and time on the bike on Saturday gave me some extra race rhythm as well. It’s been great to get this race under my belt ahead of my home GP!”
In Germany at the beautifully prepared Aichwald circuit Tim Gajser won the latest round of the German MX1 championship ahead of Glenn Coldenhoff and Pascal Rauchenecker. The young MX2 rider moved up a class to show just what a talent he is.
“That was a perfect comeback to the series,” Gajser said. “I am familiar with the track from my time in the ADAC MX Junior Cup. That´s why I came to Aichwald thinking I could win again. I felt great, and the large crowd around the track pushed me all the way to the finish.”
All the GP riders who races last weekend will now head to Sweden for the next round of the MX2 and MXGP championships.
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