The 32nd edition of the RHL Weston Beach Race will be remembered as one of the best ever.
Tens of thousands of fans packed the Weston Super Mare beach front from one end of the North Somerset coastline to the other and with temperatures hitting around 19 degrees for most of the day, a vast majority of the crowd stayed right until all the riders crossed the finish line some three exciting hours after the race started.
British MX1 motocross champion Shaun Simpson set the pace right from the word go, Shaun put in lap after lap of blistering times to win by over 5 minutes from second place rider and team mate Ben Watson and third placed Matt Burrows. Both riders tried in vain to close the gap on the Hitachi KTM star but with time running out, it was a tough ask due to the consistency of Shaun’s astonishingly fast lap times.
Shaun Simpson: “It was great, you dream of perfect Weston’s, the fuel stops went perfectly and I would like to thank my family who all did an excellent job throughout the 3 hours. I never even fell off once, never stalled it - absolutely textbook race. I took the lead from the beginning and just held it really, I felt really comfortable and really strong and the bike was amazing. I made it to the first corner in first and then I knew I would be good in the dunes, I think I had a 5-6 second gap on the first lap - I’m ecstatic.
I want to say thanks to my team Hitachi Construction KTM UK, thanks for letting me be here and the support I had from the fans for the entire 3 hours of the race - top step of the box you can’t beat that.”
Gareth Hockey of RHL Activities: “I’m pretty choked up to be fair, the weekend was just mind blowing, a huge thankyou to the thousands of fans who attended, the incredible weather was perfect and the fantastic racing in all classes made for a fun packed two days. My team have been quite superb in the build up to this weekend and exceptionally busy Saturday and Sunday. Congratulations to all class winners and to Shaun Simpson, finally taking a Weston Beach Race win, just like his Dad, Willie, 32 years ago.”
Full Results from today can be found HERE