BIOGRAPHY – #60 JULIAN SIMON
Even though his first motorcycle was an Italjet 50cc, which he got at the age of five – the minimum age for racing – Julián actually began his career on a 60cc Kawasaki in the junior category of the Spanish Motocross Championship. He was a fast learner and in 1996 he finished third in the championship, a sign of things to come the following season, when he was crowned Junior Champion.
In 1998 he began racing an 80cc Kawasaki and at the age of eleven he finished fifth in the youth category and eighth in the ‘cadets’ category.
Due to sponsorship reasons in 1999 he decided to try road racing and signed up for the 50cc Aprilia Cup, finishing fourth in his first season. At the same time he continued to race motocross and in the final race of the season, at the famous Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, he took a sensational victory. The win ensured Julian signed off from motocross in style, before focusing exclusively on road racing.
With a year of experience behind him, in 2000 he contested both the 50cc and 125cc categories of the Aprilia Cup, winning both titles in an incredible season. He was snapped up by the Movistar Junior Team to contest the 125cc Spanish Championship in 2001 and 2002, two years of learning that also featured some memorable results. In his first race at Jarama he managed to finish fourth and in the second race he made the podium with a third-place finish at Albacete. An impressive debut season finished with fourth place in the championship overall.
His second season was a quest to be crowned the 2002 Spanish Champion and even though he could only manage third place his performances were rewarded with four wildcard appearances at World Championship level. His efforts in Grand Prix were recognised by Angaia Racing, who signed him up to contest the entire 2003 season on a Malaguti before switching to a Honda 125 GP kit machine for the following year. Julián made constant progress and his results improved, with a string of points-scoring finishes. Consequently the offers came flooding in for 2005 and he opted for a factory ride with KTM. He started out the year with a run of top ten finishes and in the sixth round he scored the best result of his career so far with victory in the British Grand Prix at a rain-soaked Donington Park.
The 2006 season seemed destined to be a defining one for the youngster and when Sebastián Porto retired from racing in the sixth round of the campaign he was touted as the Argentinean’s replacement on the 250cc Repsol Honda machine. However, at the Grand Prix of Catalunya Julián crashed and suffered the worst injury of his career – a fractured femur – which required surgery and ruled him out of the next three races. He returned to action after the summer break, ending the season with a podium in Japan, fourth-place finishes in Malaysia and Portugal, and a fifth in Australia.
Julián finally made the step up to the quarter-litre category in 2007 with Repsol Honda but it would not prove to be an easy move for the youngster, who not only had to adapt to the bigger bike but was forced to compete against much more competitive machinery in a disappointing season for the Japanese factory.
The 2008 season saw a change of machinery from Honda to KTM but Julián was able to stay within the same Repsol team structure. From the mid-point of the season to the end he began to show encouraging signs of progress as he challenged regularly at the front of the pack, with a series of mechanical breakdowns taking the shine off what he otherwise considered to be a successful campaign overall.
It is a case of one step back, two steps forward for the Spaniard in 2009 as he drops back down to the 125cc class but with the technical guarantee of riding for the Aspar Team on a factory Aprilia RSA – a machine that gives him at Phillip Island in Australia the World Championship title.
PERSONAL STUFF:
1.HEIGHT: 60 kg
2.WEIGHT: 167 cm
3.PLACE OF BIRTH: Toledo (Spain)
4.A WOMAN´S NAME: Noelia
5.A BOOK: Valentino Rossi biography
6.A FILM: “La vida es bella”
7.FAVOURITE ACTRESS:
8.FAVOURITE ACTOR: Mel Gibson
9.A SONG, SINGER, GROUP: Coldplay
10.A CAR: BMW
11.A BIKE: Aprilia
12.YOUR FIRST MOTORCYCLE: Italjet
13.A MEAL: Pasta
14.AN ANIMAL: Tasmanian devil
15.A COLOUR: Black
16.A NUMBER: 60
17.A DAY: 03/04/1987
18.A SEASON: Summer
19.AN ANECDOTE: In a motocross race I stopped for urinating and finally I won the race.
20.A RIVAL: Mika Kallio
21.A PLACE TO GO ON HOLIDAY: Australia
22.BEACH OR MOUNTAIN: Both
23.ANOTHER SPORT: Motocross
24.A SPORTSMAN: Valentino Rossi
25.TV, RADIO, PRESS OR INTERNET: Radio and internet
26.A MOMENT TO REMEMBER: My first victory at Donington Park in 2005
27.A MOMENT TO FORGET: Montmelo race (2006)
28.3 THINGS TO TAKE TO A DESERT ISLAND: Happiness, my girlfriend and a motocross bike
29.WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN IF YOU WEREN´T A RIDER?: Cyclist
30.WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO IN THE FUTURE?: Try to advice young riders
31.YOUR HOBBIES: Motocross and being with my friends
32.WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE TRACK AND WHY?: Australia for all that involves (ocean, track.)
STATS – #60 JULIAN SIMON
Date of birth: 03/04/1987 – Villacañas – Toledo – Spain
Age: 22
First race: 1993 Spanish Motocross Championship
First Grand Prix: 2002 Spain GP (125cc)
First victory: 2005 England GP (125cc)
Last victory: 2009 Australia GP (125cc)
First pole: 2009 Qatar GP (125cc)
First fastest lap: 2009 Spain GP (125cc)
First podium: 2005 England GP (125cc)
Victories: 6 (125cc)
Podiums: 12 (125cc)
Poles: 6 (125cc)
Fastest laps: 6 (125cc)
Best general result: 125cc World Champion 2009 Aprilia RSA
Total Grand Prix appearances: 109, 33 (250cc) y 76 (125cc)
TEAM CREW – #60 JULIAN SIMON
Technical Manager: Enrique Peris
Data Analyst: Amando Garcia
Mechanic: Francisco Muñoz
Mechanic: Salvador Franco
Mechanic Assistant: Joan Tortosa
CAREER SO FAR – #60 JULIAN SIMON
1993 Spanish Motocross Championship (Kawasaki 60cc)
1994 Spanish Motocross Championship (Kawasaki 60cc)
1995 Spanish Motocross Championship (Kawasaki 60cc)
1996 3rd Spanish Motocross Championship (Kawasaki 60cc)
1997 Spanish Motocross Champion (Kawasaki 60cc)
1998 5th Spanish Motocross Championship -junior- (Kawasaki 80cc), 8th Spanish Motocross Championship -cadet-
1999 4th Spanish Motocross Championship (Kawasaki 80cc), 4th Aprilia Cup 50cc
2000 Aprilia Cup Champion 125cc, Aprilia Cup Champion 50cc
2001 5th Spanish Championship (CEV) (Honda RS 125)
2002 4th Spanish Championship (CEV) (Honda RS 125), Wild Card World Championship Barcelona, Jerez, Portugal, Valencia.
2003 29th World Championship 125cc (Malagutti)
2004 14th World Championship 125cc (Honda)
2005 7th World Championship 125cc (KTM)
2006 9th World Championship 125cc (KTM)
2007 9th World Championship 250cc (KTM)
2008 10th World Championship 250cc (KTM)
2009 125cc World Champion (Aprilia)
