After injuries to Jamie Law and Matt Burrows, Jamie at the Scottish Championship where he was the MX2 red plate holder and Matt in training on Wednesday, it was down to Stuart Edmonds to fly the Pro Apico Husqvarna flag on his Husqvarna FC450 at Cusses Gorse for round 3 of the MX Nationals.
Fastest 40 MX1
In practise Stuart’s initial quick lap saw him in 8th place, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to improve on this time due to traffic that left him outside the top 20 fastest riders in the session (15th MX1) for 30th gate pick. Gathering himself and concentrating on the task at hand in race 1, Stuart made his way to the inside right of the gate before getting a great start going around the first turn in the middle of the track for a top 10 position. It wasn’t long before Stuart started to pick riders off powering his way to 6th place fending off challenges from Lewis Tombs and Jake Millward to give a solid performance and finish a season-best of 6th overall.
Race 2 soon came around, after the bike was stripped down and the usual checks were made by Stuart’s mechanic before it was back behind the gate for the final race of the day. Stuart lined up in the same place as the first race and again had a great start inside the top 10. Stuart made some passes in the early part of the race and then seemed to be stuck behind Dan Thornhill, ran the rest of the race at a good pace to maintain his 9th place finish to give him a 6th overall in MX1 for the round.
Stuart: “I’d been working on my starts in the run-up to the event, having my GET Ignition and WP Suspension dialled which paid off with good starts. I went hard early in Race 1, which helped me keep a pace at the front. Race 2 was tougher, I used a lot of energy getting past a couple of riders before I was able to settle into a rhythm and ride my own race. The 2021 Answer kit looked fresh in both races, it’s nice to have the opportunity to represent the brand at the top level of British Motocross. I’d like to thank all the sponsors for their products and input, both privately and from the team. I’m looking forward to the last round at Fat Cat where I’d hope to see my injured teammates before we look to 2021”.
Expert/Pro
Cusses Gorse saw our Expert/Pro Riders, Zac Stealey, on his Husqvarna FC450 in the MX1 Class and Jack Lindsay on his Husqvarna FC250. Jack showed improvement on Landrake’s results, though a couple of crashes in some of the races meant he had to work hard to get back to top 5 positions in the races. Jack went 2-5-5-4, joint 3rd in the MX2 class, though just missing the podium as his counterpart finished the last race ahead of him. Zac had a big crash in practise and injured himself. After some physio and 2 first corner crashes in the first two races, Zac managed to battle to 18-16-8-15 for 13th overall.
Dylan: “We had some bad news in the lead up to the event which meant Jamie and Matt wouldn’t be competing due to injury. All efforts were put into Stuart, Zac and Jack to fly the flag for the Apico Husqvarna Team and our sponsors over the weekend. I’d like to thank MOTO SHACK for turning the new Answer 2021 kits around in a short time frame for us, they looked really smart and the finish with the logos was first class.
Stuart has shown heart, class and determination this season after having little to no bike time. To say I was pleased with his performance this weekend would be an understatement. I have personally worked on his bikes with him and his mechanic to make sure everything is right for when the gate drops, and he certainly repaid us with some fantastic results this weekend. We’re working hard now towards the final round where we will be there as the full team, injured or not, to show support as the Apico Husqvarna Family. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Husqvarna Motorcycles UK and all the Apico sponsors on behalf of the team. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to go racing”.
Words – Team PR
