37,000 fans were given another sand riding demonstration of excellence and confidence at MotoGP-venue Assen for round 16 of 18 in the FIM Motocross World Championship as Shaun blasted to a 1-3 scorecard for his second Grand Prix win of the season and the third of his career.
Riding the factory 450SX-F ’24’ delivered more bumper manufacturer’s points for the Austrians and also posted more honours for his Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM crew from which he has been racing as a privateer but has now reached fourth position in the MXGP standings.
“I’ve been gathering momentum all year and I didn’t feel that great in Mantova last week but kept solid and came back here strong,” Shaun said.
“I spent a lot of energy in the first moto. I spun out on the third corner. I was fourth, I think, and dropped down to about 11th. I managed to come up through for the win but maybe used a bit too much energy. The track seemed to be a lot faster in the second moto and Bobryshev set a quick pace and Romain tracked him down. I held a good pace to finish third that handed me the overall quite comfortably.”
The temporary Assen layout had been constructed from four days work and 1500 trucks of imported sand to cover sections of the asphalt. The fans packed the vast grandstand section to create a wall of sand and a special atmosphere at the last European round of MXGP this year as the series heads to Mexico and the USA in September.
“Everyone was wondering how this race would be and everything felt just a bit different, even the sand but overall I think the guys have done a great job,” he added. “You could really hear the crowd echoing around and it was a great atmosphere. I’m happy to take the top step again.”
Shaun will cross the channel later this week and head to Preston, Lancashire (UK) for the penultimate round of the Maxxis British Championship where he is in a great position to wrap up a successful title defence.
