Lierop awoke Sunday morning with a lot of rain, and although it stopped before the races started, all the MX1 and MX2 riders mentioned how difficult and demanding the track was. However, these conditions were the perfect ones for Shaun Simpson to win the first Grand Prix of his career. In MX2 Jeffrey Herlings showed once again why he is called the king of the sand by winning the two heats and finish the season with another Grand Prix victory.
JK SKS Gebeen Yamaha’s Shaun Simpson was one of the main protagonists of the weekend and all the MXGP paddock was cheering for the British rider when he crossed the finish line as the winner of the Grand Prix. Simpson rode two strong races and he admitted that racing conditions were really favourable for him because of his love for sand riding and the wet conditions. Simpson had really good starts in both heats, but while in the first one he rode with the front group most of the time and crossed the finish line as the race winner, in the final one he had to battle with Strijbos, Bobryshev, Desalle and in the last laps with De Dycker to finish third. With this overall victory Shaun Simpson has become the last MX1 GP winner in the history - in 2014 it will be called MXGP – and he explained that he feels very proud for that, as well as also for being the first British rider on the first step of the MX1 podium since Billy Mackenzie’s victory back in 2007.
The second overall position of the Dutch Grand Prix was for Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Kevin Strijbos thanks to his 2-2 result. The Belgian rider was a bit disappointed after not winning the overall finishing just one point behind Simpson. He admitted that he could not find the good feeling with the track, especially in the second moto, and that was why he could not keep a good rhythm to ride for the victory in both races.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli was also a bit disappointed with his third overall position, because he wanted to close the championship with an overall victory. The Italian dominated the second race from beginning to end, but in the first one a problem on his back wheel forced him to finish fourth. Cairoli admitted that he rode safe the first minutes of the first heat because he was not sure how his body would react riding the 450cc, but after twenty minutes he started feeling confident and he got a good rhythm to catch Simpson. However, the Italian had already felt that there was a strange noise on his back wheel, and he was about to overtake Simpson for the lead, he lost the back wheel and crashed. Cairoli had to slow down but he was still able to finish the race fourth.
Honda World Motocross’ Evgeny Bobryshev had two really good starts and he did his best to finish on the podium, but in the end he ended fourth ahead of Ken De Dycker. The Russian rode very strong laps in the beginning of the first race, but he made several mistakes which made him move from first to fourth. However, in the last lap he managed to overtake Cairoli and he finished third. In the second race Bobryshev was determined to make a strong moto, but after an excellent start in third, he dropped down to the sixth place. With two laps to go the Russian overtook Desalle and crossed the finish line fifth.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Ken De Dycker was fifth and fourth in the two races and he obtained the overall fifth position of the Grand Prix, but he received the bronze medal for his third position in the MX1 championship. De Dycker explained that in the first race he could not find the good lines and he rode very slow during the whole moto, so they decided to make some changes in the suspension of his KTM for the second race. The Belgian had a bad start in the final race and he stalled the bike twice in the first lap, but he gave it all and moved up to the second place. However, he started making a lot of mistakes like in the first heat and he dropped down to fourth.
Tommy Searle had a bad start in the first race, but he did an incredible recovery from his initial seventeenth place to finish seventh. In the second race he obtained a strong eighth position to finish sixth overall. Gautier Paulin and the British rider exchanged the seventh position of the second race several times, but it was finally the French rider who crossed the finish line seventh, but the French rider had been ninth in the first race, so he was seventh overall. Paulin explained that he did not want to take many risks, as he is very close to being at 100% once again and he wants to do well at the Motocross of Nations in two weeks’ time.
MX1 Race 1 top ten: 1. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), 41:15.958; 2. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:21.348; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:41.170; 4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:58.008; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +1:12.295; 6. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +2:00.071; 7. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +2:10.185; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, Yamaha), +2:18.160; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +3:12.542; 10. Marc de Reuver (NED, Honda), -1 lap(s);
MX1 Race 2 top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 41:26.990; 2. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:53.200; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +1:00.939; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +1:12.036; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +1:13.573; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +1:18.145; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:30.775; 8. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:41.253; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), +1:55.460; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s);
MX1 Overall top ten: 1. Shaun Simpson (GBR, YAM), 45 points; 2. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 44 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 43 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 36 p.; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 27 p.; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, KAW), 26 p.; 8. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KAW), 26 p.; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 24 p.; 10. Rick Satink (NED, YAM), 18 p.;
MX1 Championship top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 761 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 671 p.; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 607 p.; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 553 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, KAW), 539 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 487 p.; 7. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KAW), 431 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 348 p.; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, YAM), 316 p.; 10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HON), 314 p.;
MX1 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 788 points; 2. Suzuki, 719 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 649 p.; 4. Honda, 538 p.; 5. Yamaha, 367 p.; 6. TM, 254 p.;