EMX300 IMOLA 2018 FINAL

 ANDO TAKES THE EMX300 CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE 2ND YEAR RUNNING

 

Brad Anderson did the Country proud this weekend. He won the EMX300 Championship Title for the Second Year running.  The final round was at the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in IMOLA, Italy.  It was the first time since 1948 that an international motocross event had been held at this iconic track and the 28 degree Italian sunshine added to the appeal.

 

It has been a tough Championship for Brad.  He had a slow start with Round 3 being his first race and round win, in Russia, soon followed by the top step of the podium at the British GP at Matterley Basin.  This round was special to Brad and meant a lot to win, but he pulled the ligaments in his knee in race one and rode in agony for the Final moto.  He was still riding cautious in Locket but had a fabulous round in Bulgaria giving the crowd a full on battle with Mike Kras to watch before winning 2-1 for the overall.

 

So that left the last round at IMOLA.  Entering with a 27 point lead one would have thought it would have been easy, but Brad doesn't know how to do easy.  2 weeks before the final round Brad took a big crash whilst wild carding in the British Masters on his two-stroke and broke his finger on his right hand, in two places.  So strapped up and in pain, Brad had to tackle the tough track of IMOLA with caution.

 

Qualification:

 

IMOLA was a very narrow, relatively hard pack track, with lots of rhythm sections, big jumps with short landings, tight and technical and a concrete landing if you got it wrong - not what Brad really needed.  Not only did he feel pain each time he landed but he found it hard to brake quickly so caution had to be used.  Yet he managed to get 7th in timed practice.  Not ideal for his gate pick but good enough.

 

RACE 1:

 

An excellent start coming round battling for first position but he soon faded.  He wasn't relaxed and was riding cautious.  It was only 3/4 into the race that he warmed up, got an extra adrenalin kick and forgot about the pain.  He then started to battle and managed to move up from 7th place to 5th for a 5th place finish in Moto 1.

 

RACE 2:

 

So with losing some of his points gain in Moto 1,  Brad now had to finish 13th place or higher to win the championship.  Sounds easy but on day too his finger was even sorer, swollen and very stiff, making riding pretty tricky, especially on a technical track like this.

Brads start was ok but he wasn't out front. Running back in 7th to start with and dropping back to 9th throughout the race.  With 2 laps to go he started to close on Lolli, but couldn't quite make it.  7th was good.   It gave him 6th overall and a total of 28 points against Kras's 50.  Add that to his previous 27 point lead, and Brad took the title by 5 points clear.

 

OVERALL:

 

5-9 for 6th overall. 279 points giving him 1st overall in the Championship and the EMX300 Championship once again.  Ando ... King of the Two-Strokes.

 

QUOTE FROM BRAD ANDERSON:

Over the moon to be EMX300 Champion once again.  It's only just sinking in that all the hard work has actually payed off.  I struggled all weekend with a broken finger in two places.  So glad that it is done and dusted.  A massive thank you to the team, Chris Muir on the spanners, Steve Clitheroe for having my engines spot on and all my family, friends and sponsors that have supported me all the way.  Couldn't have done it without you all.

 

QUOTE FROM ADRIAN KIRK:

It is a great feeling to win the Championship two years in a row.  It has been a tough year with Brads injuries.  Thank you to everyone involved.  The team is made up of not only Brad, Chris and myself but all the friends, family, supporters, sponsors and associates who played a part in making this happen once again.  Brad did us all proud.