An injury sustained at Blaxhall has stopped Shaun Simpson from racing MXGP this weekend in Russia, the eighth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship.
Simpson confirmed the news on social media but is keeping in good spirits. “Blaxhall chestnut fencing 1. My fifth metacarpal 0,” he wrote.
At the start of the first moto, the 31-year-old RFX KTM rider caught the Blaxhall fencing on the first-turn with his right hand. It was the start of yard sale crash that left a number of MX1 riders in the trees, including British title rival Tommy Searle. Ryan Houghton suffered a broken femur and a broken bone in his neck in the incident.
The race was red flagged and Houghton was airlifted to the hospital. Racing resumed over an hour later with the RFX KTM crew opting to race for as many British championship points as they could.
Simpson gritted through the two motos for 32 points but lost the points lead to Tommy Searle.
On his injury, the Scot added: “Luckily it’s not displaced and won’t require surgery but it does mean I’ll be out of action for the next couple of GPs.”
Simpson currently holds 12th place in the MXGP championship with 129 points, nine points behind former MX2 champion Pauls Jonass. In the British series, Simpson is five points behind new red plate holder Searle.
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