The pride of the North East, multi-time British Champion Brad Anderson goes into the fifth round of the 2014 Garmin Arenacross Tour in his home city of Newcastle with a point to prove.
The 32-year-old Buildbase Honda rider has had a tough start to the series and currently sits back in ninth in the title chase but he’s determined to use home support to full effect on Sunday afternoon in the Metro Radio Arena.
“I’m looking forward to it, especially with it being my local round with all my fans and home support,” says Brad who spent this morning at the arena talking to members of the regional media. “I can’t wait. If the crowd get behind me it helps a lot – even through my helmet I can still hear them and that gives me more push to do it for them. If I get on the box I think the whole place will be lit up and that’s what I’m aiming for.
“It does puts extra pressure on me because I want to do well for the fans and give something back to them but there’s always pressure in Motocross.”
Brad’s an out-and-out battler and is determined to post some good results before the series signs off on March 1 at Wembley Arena.
“Obviously, I’m not happy with ninth in the championship – you know me, I always want to be one of the top riders but it’s so tough out there with so many fast guys.
“The goal is to get some good starts and try and get straight into the Main Event without having to go to the Last Chance Qualifier. The LCQs are so difficult – in Liverpool there was me, Whatley, Clarke, Jamie Law, Rombaut. It was so stacked it was more like a Main Event.
“At the moment I’ve been getting bad starts but we’ve been working hard on the bike this week and we’re going to try some different things. We’re going to go more with Motocross suspension.”
Starts are key in the short, sharp Arenacross races and Brad’s confident that if he can get out the gate he can run at the front.
“If I get a good start I can mix it with those boys at the front. I haven’t been doing as well as I’d like so I need to step it up on Sunday. There are some fast guys out there but I’m confident that if I can get to the front, get into a comfortable rhythm and dial some nice lines in then hopefully I can get on the podium.”
