Hawkstone International 2016

2016 Hawkstone International MX - 7 Feb 2016 

Excellent results from Hawkstone International for Verde Sports Racing.  Team mates Brad Anderson and Jake Millward did the team proud by bringing home excellent results in the stacked MX1 class, full of International GP riders. 

It was a cold wet weekend but the crowds still flooded in to watch one of the biggest Motocross events to be held in the UK this year. 

It has been a busy few weeks for the team, preparing the new 2016 KTM bikes for the season but the results this weekend made the long hours and hard work worthwhile. Both riders entered into the MX1 class, Brad on his 450 KTM SX-F and Jake on his 350 KTM SX-F.  However, for the rest of the season Jake will be riding the MX2 class as usual on his 250 KTM SX-F.

Qualifying:

The track was wet, deep and slippery as the riders went out in their qualifying session.  It had hammered it down with rain the whole day before but the track took it well and started to dry up as the day progressed.

MX1 – Brad has been training hard over the winter to get used to the KTM which is a new kind of bike to him.  The hard work both on the track and in the gym paid off today.  The slippery track got the better of Brad just before the timed qualification kicked in; his back end slipped out and he over corrected himself causing him to bin the bike and get covered in mud!  So as soon as the timed session started he slotted in a quick lap which turned out to be a pretty good one, giving him the 6th fasted time out of the highly stacked class.

MX2 – The 350 is the bike Jake usually practices on but some adjustments made especially for Hawkstone made it feel like a brand new bike to ride.  He took the opportunity to get used to it during the practice and still managed to get a 17^th place qualification, despite the slippery wet conditions. 

Race 1:

What a fantastic first race for both riders.  They both looked at home on the KTM’s, two different riding styles but two excellent results.

MX1 – What a start.  Brad was so fast out of the gate he left the other riders way behind and led half the first lap ahead of all the International pack.  Unfortunately a slip in the slush, caused him to drop two places back to 4^th, but he chased down hard, never letting up and waiting for his moment.  Searle made a mistake which let Brad make his move into 2^nd place.  With just a few laps to go the crowd went wild as this British Icon made it look so easy.  Ando held off Simpson and secured a comfortable 2^nd place behind Clement Desalle.

MX2 – Jake too got an excellent start getting out of the gate in 5^th place on his 350 KTM.  Jake took to the MX1 class like a duck to water, holding his own amongst the stacked class of GP 450 riders.  He looked so smooth and soon settled into a comfortable 7^th place position.  In the last lap Jake made a mistake and De-Reuver made his pass, leaving Jake to finish 8^th place.  Pretty good result and not bad for his first MX1 debut.

Race 2:

MX1 – Brad got out of the gate in 4^th, looked up and came off on the start straight, putting him back to 25^th!  Brad is a fighter and by the end of the first lap he was already back into 17^th place.  He battled hard throughout the race, not giving up once, despite getting filled in by every rider on the muddy track!  By the last lap he had moved up to 6^th place.  Then with less than half a lap to go, he made a small mistake which allowed De-Reuver to pass him, giving Brad a 7^th place finish.

MX2 – Jake had another good start, yet again getting out of the gate in 5^th place and soon settling for a comfortable 7^th place position, until Brad made his pass pushing him back to 8^th!  Then two laps from the end Jake tweaked his knee in the mud and rutted track, he lost a couple of places but still managed to finish 10^th overall in the stacked MX1 class.

Overall:

Brad finished 4^th overall for the day, just one point behind 3^rd place Ben Townley and the podium.  Jake finished 8^th overall, with only Shaun Simpson, his team mate Ando and the International GP riders ahead of him.  Not a bad first outing for the Verde KTM team this year.  An excellent bit of riding from both riders.  With the track getting pretty wet and rutted the riders decided to opt out of the Super final.  They had done what they had come here to do.  Ride, race, enjoy their new bikes and give the crowd an idea of what might be in store for the rest of the season.

Quote from Brad Anderson:

The bike was awesome today.  Good overall start to the season, looks like my training is paying off.  A bit thankyou to all my sponsors and the team for getting the KTM right for Hawkstone.

Quote from Jake Millward:

Loved the 350 KTM today.  Thanks to Steve Clitheroe for getting it to haul up that start straight and thanks to the team for putting in the hours to get the bike ready in time.

Quote from Team Manager, Adrian Kirk:

Thrilled for both riders.  Today showed what Jake could achieve in MX1 and all Brad’s hard work and training paid off.  Great to see him back on top.  He looked at home on the KTM.  They were both a pleasure to watch.

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