THE flying Scotsman Shaun Simpson put the Northern Ireland based KTM team owned and managed by Roger Magee on the world motocross podium for the first time in Bulgaria.
In fact 20-year-old Simpson was less than half a second off what would have been a sensational win in the second leg of the MX2 class.
Simpson showed his mettle by leading the second race virtually from start to finish only to be pipped at the fin
al corner by Tommy Searle.
After 40-minutes of high-powered racing the official difference between them was just 0.43 of a second.
After qualifying fourth in his group, Simpson who comes from St Andrews was 11th in the opening race and on the day finished third overall.
“This is a new experience for me to be on the podium,” quipped Simpson who after four rounds is eighth in the MX2 world rankings.
He added, “At the beginning of the year I knew that I had some good speed but I didn’t expect to get a podium result as soon as this.
“I hope that I have broken the ice with this Bulgarian result, there are some good tracks coming up and I’ll be looking for some more champagne!”
Magee admitted that it had been an emotional day for all concerned.
“What a race and what a day for Team KTM UK with our first podium,” said Magee.
“Shaun rode a brilliant, controlled second race and proved that he can cut it with the best MX2 riders in the world.”
His next outing is in Italy on Sunday followed by the British round and after that he may weigh-in for the Knock club’s Bill Hutton memorial motocross at Downpatrick on June 7.
The full article contains 301 words and appears in News Letter newspaper.
