Despite being held in wintry conditions that saw snow, sleet and high winds pound the popular hillside circuit, the track was just on the damp side of being perfect which made for some great bar to bar racing action in both the MX2 and MX1 classes.
          
Simpson was in a class of his own all day dominating qualifying and both races on his Team KTM UK 250 SXS-F from start to finish. Grabbing both all important holeshots on the power-sapping uphill Canada Heights start straight, Shaun was then able to use the advantage of riding a clear track to gap the competition early in both motos eventually winning race one by 36 seconds and race two by 46 seconds. Simpson’s MX1 teammate Alex Snow doesn’t have such a positive day but the Under-21 championship leader acquits himself well to battle on to a pair of points scoring rides after mediocre starts from the tricky concrete launch pad.
          
James Noble showed true Yorkshire grit on his way to a pair of top eight moto finishes for 7th overall despite suffering with a bad case of pneumonia. Riding against doctor’s orders James qualified well on his 450 SXS-F then simply concentrated on riding consistently to reach the finish in both motos in order to keep his MX1 championship hopes alive.
          
The next outing for Shaun Simpson and James Noble is at the opening round of the Motocross World Championship on April 6 at Valkenswaard in Holland. Meanwhile Alex Snow will travel to Whiteway Barton in Devon for the second round of the under-21 series where he’ll be hoping to increase his championship lead.
 
 
Rider Quotes
 
Shaun Simpson – MX2 1-1
“The perfect day. Qualifying went well and I stuck a good lap in early and took pole. I decided to start on the very inside gate which was a bit of a gamble because it was almost too far inside for the first corner but I’d noticed the ground was nice and hard over there. My gamble paid off and I took both holeshots and just checked out from there. Today was my day and I was on top of my game and now I’ve got to just keep going in the series – I’m only 14 points behind the leader now and the championship is there for the taking.”
 
Alex Snow – MX2 14-18
“It wasn’t the best day for me really. I had bad starts in both races and it was difficult to overtake on this track. In the first race I rode quite tight but the second race was much better for me riding wise but I got caught in the first turn carnage and coming through was difficult. I’ve got to put this weekend behind me now and look forward to the next round of the Under-21 championship in two weeks time.”

 
James Noble – MX1 8-7
“I was diagnosed with pneumonia earlier this week and my doctor advised me to rest fully for three weeks but I’ve been taking antibiotics and I was starting to feel a bit better - there was no way I was going to sit at home and miss this race no matter how ill I felt. In qualifying I only did one lap in order to conserve my energy and that was good enough for sixth which I was reasonably happy with. In the races I was physically shot after 15 minutes and managed to salvage 8th and 7th place finishes which are much better than two DNFs so it was well worth coming.”
 
 
Results
 
MX1 Series Standings
1 Billy MacKenzie (Honda) 100 points, 2 Brad Anderson (Suzuki) 78, 3 Kenneth Gundersen (Yamaha) 78, 4 Mark Jones (Kawasaki) 70, 5 Tom Church (Kawasaki) 66, 6 James Noble (KTM) 63, 7 Wayne Smith (Yamaha) 57, 8 Michael Philips (KTM) 40, 9 Mark Eastwood (Honda) 40, 10 Bryan MacKenzie (Kawasaki) 32
 
MX2 Series Standings
1 Stephen Sword (Kawasaki) 84 points, 2 Martin Barr (Yamaha) 74, 3 Shaun Simpson (KTM) 70, 4 Pascal Leuret (Suzuki) 67, 5 Neville Bradshaw (Honda) 56, 6 Carlos Campano (Yamaha) 55, 7 Elliot Banks-Browne (Suzuki) 51, 8 Tommy Searle (KTM), 9 Kristian Whatley (KTM) 42, 10 Carl Nunn (Suzuki) 33… 15 Alex Snow (KTM) 29