Agueda, the GP of Portugal and R3 of the EMXt2. A fantastic track. Very fast, hard pack and technical. A sunny, dry weekend provided the perfect conditions for GP racing. Ando had a great Race 2 but the track had got very slippery on the Saturday and a mistake on the first lap cost Brad the red plate, by the end of the weekend, by one point to Kras.
QUALIFICATION:
Brad got 6th fastest lap in qualification in his 5th lap. It was a fast track with lots of tight corners, loads of jumps and a rhythm section. The top 10 riders had relatively close times so Brad wasn’t fazed by his gate pick for the weekend.
RACE 1:
Brad got a good jump out the gate and came round in 3rd place, close behind Kras and Kellett. Early in the first lap Brad took a tight inside line, made a mistake and lost the front end. As it was so early in the race, the majority of the pack passed him straight away, leaving Brad back in 17th place. The slip had cost him dearly. The track was very fast and the leaders had a clear run out front. Brad found it difficult to pass some of the riders. He pulled back to 8th and had another 3 riders close in sight, but time ran out and Brad had to settle for 8th place in Moto 1.
RACE 2:
At the start of day 2 Brad still held the red plate, but with just a 2 point lead over Kras. He got another relatively good jump out the gate, coming round in 4th place. But so did Kras, Van T Ende and Lusbo. Brad quickly moved up into 3rd place but Kras and his team mate had already got a good stretch out front. Brad chased hard and half way through the race moved into 2nd place. But he had left it too late. Kras had a good length out front and both his and Brad’s pace’s were similar so Brad just couldn’t manage to close the gap on the leader at all. So Brad finished Moto 2 with a very comfortable 2nd place. … but he needed 1st place and the 3 points to keep the red plate and the lead in the championship.
OVERALL:
8 – 2 for 5th overall. The win and 3 more points would have secured him 2nd place on the podium and he would have kept his lead in the Championship. Instead Brad is now unfortunately in 2nd place in the Championship, just 1 single point behind Mike Kras.
So the battle is truly on when they go to Russia next month for R4. Kras on 119 points and Brad on 118.
QUOTE FROM BRAD ANDERSON:
Two weekends to forget. Crashes on the first lap both weekends didn’t help and I had to fight through on tracks that were difficult to make passes and time up on. 8 – 2 for 5th overall and 1 point behind in the championship. Hopefully my luck will change for the next few rounds.
QUOTE FROM TEAM MANAGER ADRIAN KIRK:
Not the two weekends we had hoped for or intended. Crashes and bad first races puts too much pressure on to the 2nd race. Consistency is what we need in Russia and a repeat of the mega ride he had at Matterley Basin earlier this year.
