Maxxis ACU British Championship Round 5 - Dessert Martin - 2017

Qualifying:

The track was in mint condition.  The weather was sunny and hot.  There was a pretty stacked class of riders, despite injuries, although the MX2 class was probably wide open with over 15 riders in with a chance of a podium.

MX2:

This qualification was a pretty close call.  Only 1.50 seconds between all top 10 riders, with riders like Mel Pocock, Harri Kullas, Liam Knight, Lewis Tombs, Josh Gilbert and Jordan Divall not even making that top 10!  There was a big crash early on in the qualification causing a red flag delay but once that was over and done with Jake got a clear lap in his 4^th lap and came home 8^th fastest rider in qualification.

MX1:

Brad took his time to learn the track, came in for a couple of mechanical changes and then got a good run in his 6^th lap, giving him 7^th gate pick.  It was again a close quali, with Gert, Harrison and Edmonds being only 0.20 of a second apart.

Race 1:

MX2:

Jake got a terrible start coming up the start straight in 12^th.  But he was on it and determined that today was going to be his day.  He managed to pull through to 6^th pretty quickly, passing Tombs, Norris and Todd in one pass.  Pocock and Gilbert were his next challenge and once Jake picked them off he moved in to 5^th place.  But Ben Watson had also had a terrible start and he too was now charging through the pack.  It didn’t take long for Ben to catch Jake and not only pass him but move into 3^rd position.  This pushed Jake back a spot to finish 6^th in Moto 2.

MX1:

Brad got a cracking start coming down the start straight in 4^th place but moved into a clear 3^rd straight away.  Irwin got out front and was being cheered on by his home crowd.  Elliot kept close behind, challenging him for the lead.   By half way through the race, Brad started to close on Elliot and looked likely to move into 3^rd place.  But a couple of small, scary moments put an end to that.  Grestinov had by then charged through the pack and took advantage of Brad’s mistakes and started to give him the run for his money.  Mixing it up with back markers made it even more challenging and Gert made his move 2 laps from the end, pushing Brad back into 4^th place.  So an unhappy Brad finished 4^th in Moto 1.

Race 2:

MX2:

Jake once again got a terrible start.  He sat in 13^th place for nearly 2 laps and then made a mistake on a wide sweeping bend and stuck his front end straight into the berm, which pushed him back to 16^th place.  The pace was fast today and it took him a few laps to get past Lewis Tombs into 9^th place.  Once through he soon passed Kullas and was closing on the pack of three ahead.  He managed to pick off Gilbert but ran out of time to pass Spinks and Todd.  So Jake finished 8^th in Moto 2.

MX1:

Brad got an excellent start, 2^nd out the gate behind Irwin.  Shipton was on his tail for the first few laps until Krestinov pushed through into 3^rd.  The gap between Irwin and Brad got slightly wider as did the gap between Brad and Krestinov.  But it was now a battle for the 2^nd place podium between Brad and Gert.  Whoever finished behind Irwin in this race would get the 2^nd step and the other would get the 3^rd.  So the battle was began.  They were neck and neck at times but Brad was determined not to let him past.  He saw that podium in site and so held off Gert to the end.  So it was Irwin from Brad and then Brad from Gert.  So Brad Anderson finished 2^nd MX1 in moto 2 and secured his first podium of the year in the Maxxis.

Overall:

MX2:

Jake ended up with a 6-8 to give him 7^th overall.  Two consistent races in a stacked class of riders.  He showed he could pull through from the back and keep chasing until the end in both races.  Jake managed to move up into 11^th place in the championship, another 6 points and he will be back in the top 10.  Good starts at the next round will hopefully make life a lot easier.

MX1:

So Brad got a 4 – 2 to give him 2^nd overall and a Maxxis Podium.  He is still sitting in 4^th place in the championship.  The gap between Brad and 5^th place Elliot is now larger, which gives Brad a much better chance of securing a top 3 championship title.

Quote from Jake Millward:

A good weekend at Dessert Martin.  I came away with joint 6^th overall.  My riding was good today, but I just made it hard work by getting rubbish starts and having to pull my way through.  A big thankyou to all the team for the effort they put in this weekend.

Quote form Brad Anderson:

Had a good weekend at the British Championship.  Got a 4^th and 2^nd and had some good battles with Gert in the last moto for 2^nd.  Thanks again to all my sponsors.  I couldn’t do what I love so much which is turning two wheels.  The track was the best so far this season, but the near misses I had today were pretty scary moments.