Brad luck for Anderson
By TMX Archives on 16th Apr 09
THE inaugural Handlebar Festival, bringing together World Championship MX3 and European EMX2 at Hawkstone Park for the very first time may have played to a disappointingly thin crowd but it produced some of the best racing ever seen at the famous Shropshire circuit with an on-fire Brad Anderson giving his all in MX3 and a race-hungry field of EMX2 youngsters burning-up the track for the full race distance as they made their play to be GP stars of the future...Report and Pictures: ED WOOD
LESS than 30 riders started qualification for the MX3 class and alongside this not-quite gateful of MX3 regulars were four British battlers – PAR Honda's Brad Anderson, Relentless Suzuki's Jamie Law and the tenacious STR Honda team of Jordan Rose and Nathan Parker. Despite being thin on the ground it was the Brits who really dominated qualifying with Rose holding pole early on until Slovenian Honda rider Matevz Irt took over as fastest man on the track on his seventh attempt. But there was one man who wanted the fastest time even more than the Eastern European privateer or Rose who was out there giving it his all to regain the top spot and that was Brad Anderson.
Ando did 15 laps in the 40 minute session as he chased pole position and it wasn't until the very closing moments of the timed period when the Hawkstone circuit was at its roughest that the throttle-happy north easterner popped in his fastest time in. Going 0.290 of a second faster than the Slovenian was all it took to give Anderson pole and there was more good news for the Brits too as Rose slipped into third by upping his pace while Parker was next best of the Brits in ninth while the real J-Law ended up in lucky 13th position.
Of course the qualification times meant squat when the gate dropped for moto one and reigning MX3 champ Sven Breugelmans dropped the hammer on his frighteningly fast KTM. But while the Belgian headed the pack up the tree-lined tunnel it was Anderson and the PAR Honda who would lead by the time the pack reached turn four. With a clear track ahead of him Anderson wasted no time in pulling out an early lead but before he'd settled into the race and found his rhythm a massive crash near the pit lane put the PAR teamster on his harris and way back down the pack!
Breugelmans picked-up where Anderson left off and took over at the front using his minimalistic riding style to full effect to stretch out a small lead ahead of the chasing pack of Patrick Roos, Nicolai Hansen, Julien Vanni, Jordan Rose and Jamie Law who'd got off to a real scorcher on his Relentless Suzuki rocket
As Breugelmans edged away, Anderson refound his rhythm and figured out the best way to ride his rather bent-up Honda! The Tow Law charger soon upped his pace and as Roos challenged for the lead Anderson did the unthinkable and charged into the top five!
In the closing minutes of the 30-minute plus two lap moto Roos put the champ under some serious amounts of pressure but all eyes were on Anderson as he hunted down Vanni. However time would run out for both challengers and the result stayed the same – a win for Sven, second for Patrick, third for Julien and fourth for Bradley! Rose ended sixth after suffering with some seat problems, Law finished an excellent seventh while Parker quietly went about his business to finish 19th after stalling on the start line and giving the others an unnecessary head start! >>>
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As the race drew to a close it was Vanni who hung on to take his maiden GP victory – his previous best had been an eighth overall in the MX1 class at the Bulgarian GP in 2007! Anderson finished second in the race – and overall –with Rose who just missed out on an overall podium place in third while fellow Brits Law and Parker finished tenth and 15th respectively.
For full report and pictures, see T+MX April 17,
WORLD MX3 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury,
GREAT BRITAIN
1 Julien Vanni (F - Honda) 20 + 25 = 45
2 Brad ANDERSON (GB - Honda) 18 + 22 = 40
3 Sven Breugelmans (B - KTM) 25 + 14 = 39
4 Jordan ROSE (GB - Honda) 15 + 20 = 35
5 Patrick Roos (NL - KTM) 22 + 13 = 35
6 Antti Pyrhonen (SF - Honda) 10 + 18 = 28
7 Pierre Alexandre Renet (F - Suzuki) 13 + 15 = 28
8 Nicolai Maercher Hansen (DK - Suzuki) 16 + 10 = 26
9 Jamie LAW (GB - Suzuki) 14 + 11 = 25
10 Hugo Basuala (P - Suzuki) 8 + 16 = 24
11 Christophe Martin (F - Husqvarna) 11+12=23, 12 Martin Zerava (CZ - Honda) 9+9=18, 13 Kasper Jensen (DK - Honda) 7+7=14, 14 Alex Salvini (I - Husqvarna) 4+8=12, 15 Jan Lauryssen (B - Honda) 12+0=12, 16 Matevz Irt (SLO - Honda) 6+5=11, 17 Nathan PARKER (GB - Honda) 2+6=8, 18 Roy Gijsel (NL - Kawasaki) 5+0=5, 19 Yentel Martens (B - KTM) 0+4=4, 20 Lokotar Lauri (EW - Kawasaki) 0+3=3, 21 Rasmus Sjoberg (S - KTM) 3+0=3, 22 Riki Rouhiainen (SF - Yamaha) 0+2=2, 23 Maik Voorwinden (NL - KTM) 1+1=2.
RACE ONE: 1 Breugelmans, 2 Roos, 3 Vanni, 4 ANDERSON, 5 Maercher Hansen, 6 ROSE, 7 LAW, 8 Renet, 9 Lauryssen, 10 Martin, 11 Pyrhonen, 12 Zerava, 13 Basuala, 14 Jensen, 15 Irt, 16 Gijsel, 1 Breugelmans, 18 Sjoberg, 19 PARKER, 20 Voorwinden.
RACE TWO: 1 Vanni, 2 ANDERSON, 3 ROSE, 4 Pyrhonen, 5 Basuala, 6 Renet, 7 Breugelmans, 8 Roos, 9 Martin, 10 LAW, 11 Maercher Hansen, 12 Zerava, 13 Salvini, 14 Jensen, 15 PARKER, 16 Irt, 1 Vanni, 18 Lauri, 19 Rouhiainen, 20 Voorwinden.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 6) rounds: As Overall above.
NEXT ROUND: April 19 – Talavera de la Reina, SPAIN.
EUROPEAN MX2 CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury,
GREAT BRITAIN
1 Christophe Charlier (F - Yamaha) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - KTM) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Honda) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Ken Roczen (D - Suzuki) 16 + 18 = 34
5 Mike Kras (NL - Kawasaki) 20 + 12 = 32
6 Michael Phillips (NZ - Honda) 13 + 10 = 23
7 Scott ELDERFIELD (GB - Honda) 11 + 11 = 22
8 Matthias Walkner (A - KTM) 7 + 14 = 21
9 Herjan Brakke (NL - Honda) 8 + 13 = 21
10 Eric Leijtens (NL - KTM) 15 + 6 = 21
11 Nick Triest (B - KTM) 14+5=19, 12 Klemen Gercar (SLO - Yamaha) 9+9=18, 13 Matthias Bellino (F - Yamaha) 10+7=17, 14 Martin BARR (GB - Suzuki) 0+16=16, 15 Shane CARLESS (GB - KTM) 0+15=15, 16 Milko Potisek (F - Yamaha) 12+0=12, 17 Roberto Lombrici (I - Yamaha) 3+8=11, 18 Axel Alletru (F - KTM) 5+4=9, 19 Graham IRWIN (GB - KTM) 6+3=9, 20 Josh WATERMAN (GB - KTM) 4+0=4, 21 Jeremy Delince (B - KTM) 1+2=3, 22 Alan KEET (GB - KTM) 2+0=2, 23 Stefan Olsen (DK - Suzuki) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Charlier, 2 Herlings, 3 Kras, 4 Bradshaw, 5 Roczen, 6 Leijtens, 7 Triest, 8 Phillips, 9 Potisek, 10 ELDERFIELD, 11 Bellino, 12 Gercar, 13 Brakke, 14 Walkner, 15 IRWIN, 16 Alletru, 1 Charlier, 18 Roberto Lombrici, 19 KEET, 20 Delince.
RACE TWO: 1 Charlier, 2 Herlings, 3 Bradshaw, 4 Roczen, 5 BARR, 6 CARLESS, 7 Walkner, 8 Brakke, 9 Kras, 10 ELDERFIELD, 11 Phillips, 12 Gercar, 13 Roberto Lombrici, 14 Bellino, 15 Leijtens, 16 Triest, 1 Charlier, 18 IRWIN, 19 Delince, 20 Olsen.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 15) rounds: As Overall above.
NEXT ROUND: April 19 – Talavera de la Reina, SPAIN.
Hawkstone hero Brad Anderson whistles the PAR Honda through a quick left-hander during Sunday's MX3 programme.