BRITISH DOMINATE BELGIAN SANDS OF LOMMEL
T
he infamous sands of Lom-
mel played host to the 14
th
round of the 2015 FIM Moto-
cross World Championship,
and despite being called "the
gnarliest it has ever been in the
last 25 years," two riders made
it look rather easy. British riders
Shaun Simpson and Max Anstie
topped the MXGP and MX2
fields, respectively, both taking
double wins on the weekend to
dominate the competition.
Hitachi Construction Machin-
ery Revo KTM's Shaun Simpson
demonstrated that it doesn't take
a factory ride to win at the high-
est level. The privateer made the
daunting course look easy en
route to his double moto victory.
"I maybe wasn't the fastest
guy, but I planned it and I knew
I could do it," Simpson said.
"What wasn't on the script was
my crash. I just landed in some
soft sand and high-sided; I don't
think I've ever got up and on the
bike so quickly."
Simpson was just one of
many riders to suffer a get-off on
the rough track, but few could
deny that the complex terrain
made for some good racing.
"This is probably the roughest
I've seen Lommel, but I would
call this real motocross," Simp-
son said. "Plenty of bumps, a
lot of places to pass and a great
contrast to what we are used to.
It was totally enjoyable."
While "totally enjoyable" might
be a bit of a stretch, other riders
agreed that the track was in rare
form.
"The track was like nothing I
have ever seen before; it was
so rough,"said Team HRC's
Gautier Paulin. Even Paulin, a
world-class sand rider, had a
challenging time at Lommel, but
the Frenchman managed to ac-
complish what he set out to do—
gain points on red-plate-holder
Romain Febvre in order to keep
IN
THE
WIND
P34
Privateer rider Shaun Simpson
was unstoppable in the Belgian
sand. The British rider took his
first victory of the season with
a 1-1 sweep.
