PAR Honda’s sole protagonist Brad Anderson finished second overall after a tough day at the office for round six of the British MX1 Championship at the Foxhill track near Swindon yesterday.
With MX2 teammates Luke Hawkins and Anthony Reville out with injury, Anderson was PAR Honda’s sole flag flier and was determined to build on his recent run of wins aboard his CRF450R. The 29-year-old started the day off well, qualifying second to Kristian Whatley.
In the first race Anderson gated fourth and with Whatley crashing, the PAR Honda pilot embarked on a fierce battle with Stephen Sword for the lead, with the duo passing back and forth in the opening lap. Anderson made a pass for the front and managed to make a break, but towards the end of the moto Sword came back strong and made a hard pass on Anderson at the second turn with only minutes of the race to go leaving the Honda-pilot to settle for second place.
In the second moto Anderson got a good start and was again lying second to Sword. With the slippery and dry track conditions at the Foxhill track, it was certainly hard to pass, but championship leader Anderson settled in and found some rhythm. Sword eased off with a problem and Anderson, who had been pushing Sword hard, took the lead, gapping the rest of the field by a considerable amount. However disaster struck for the Honda racer as halfway through the final lap his front brake calliper snapped and he had to cruise to the finish line to take fourth place.
In the final race of the day Anderson didn’t get the best of starts, but the PAR Honda pilot carved his way back to third place in the early stages. Unfortunately his hard work was wasted as he tangled with Nathan Parker’s bike and went down. Anderson remounted eighth and fought hard to catch Gordon Crockard, who just pipped him to the post at the chequered flag, with Anderson finishing sixth to take second place on the podium. With Whatley and Sword both not starting the final race, this has allowed Brad to extend his championship lead to 67 points with two rounds to go.
Brad Anderson #60: 2nd Overall
“I can’t say I’m happy with today but at least we’ve got some good points for the championship. Superpole went alright and I got second. The first race came and I had a good battle with Swordy. I got past him, but he got me back as I made a few mistakes and I got second. In the second race Swordy was in the lead and I was pushing him, but something happened and he pulled in, so I had a good lead. Then on the last lap the calliper came off and it started flapping around in my front wheel and the brakes started sticking on so I had to ride the jumps. I got pushed out at the last corner and I finished fourth. In the last race I got a bad start, then I came through to third. Parker went down and I hit his bike and crashed, then came back through to sixth. It was a nightmare day and I don’t really know how I ended up with a podium but it’s good we’ve had some good points, it’s just I wanted to continue winning.”
Paul Rowlands: PAR Honda Team Owner
“Today has been pretty good. I’m a bit disappointed that the two young ones are still injured, but Brad qualified second, which was good. I know Brad thinks it’s not been so great, but we’ve come away with a good championship lead and I think he only needs to be around eight points clear at Duns to wrap it up with one round to go. We’ve had very good luck with other people’s disasters and it’s gone forward, even though Brad isn’t happy. We’ve come away a lot better than it could have been with the brake calliper breaking off, which was disastrous, but then we’re lucky it happened towards the end of the lap rather than the beginning. Anyway, hopefully we can go forwards again in Duns and I also hope we’ll have Luke and Anthony back to race then too.”
