Shaun Simpson 2022 plans revealed – British Championship and International events
Grand Prix winner Shaun Simpson may have moved away from competition in the FIM MXGP Motocross World Championship but the 33-year-old is in the midst of full preparations for his first dedicated domestic campaign on British soil with his SS24 KTM team. The Scot will travel to France to contest the LaCapelle Marival International on February 6th as well as to Shropshire sand of Hawkstone Park for the customary UK event the following weekend.
Simpson, a three-times British Champion, turns 34 on March 13th; the date of the opening round of the ACU British series at Culham, south of Oxford, and the first of nine fixtures on the 2022 trail.
The Scot stepped free of Grand Prix competition last November after a long and successful career than began in the MX2 class in 2005. Simpson guided his self-run SS24 KTM squad through a full season that included 2021 Motocross of Nations podium glory at Mantova in Italy, as well as an injury-wrecked 2020 campaign that was also heavily affected by the global pandemic.
#24 left his previous residence in Belgium and is now located in Scotland on a permanent basis. He has been combining his training programme in the short winter months with riding schools and further refinement of his technical package – assisted by decent support from KTM UK – around the KTM 450 SX-F. The meetings at LaCapelle and Hawkstone will provide ample opportunity for the three-time MXGP race winner to get up to speed ahead of Culham and for a schedule that will also see some appearances in Scottish national events and possibly more outings on the continent.
“I retired from the world championship after the last Grand Prix in Italy in November but always intended to carry on racing in Britain and also being able to pick-and-choose some of the events we’d like to do,” Simpson said. “Thanks to some excellent sponsors, specifically Dyce Carriers, Gabriel Insulation and MODU Project Services and KTM UK, we were able to get the team running on a smaller scale and with the ambition to get back on some podiums and chase a few chequered flags. Going to LaCapelle and Hawkstone means 2022 feels very much like a ‘normal’ season but it will be strange going to Matterley Basin for the British Grand Prix as a spectator rather than a racer!”
“One chapter of my career is over but we’re still keen to get out there and make the laps and have some fun. It will be great to get up-close with the fans again and I hope the whole scene will be a bit more normal than what we’ve experienced for the last two years,” he added.
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Words: Adam Wheeler/PR
Pic: SS24 KTM/Gabriel Insulation/Dyce Carries/MODU
