The Putoline Apico Honda racing team with their number one rider Neville Bradshaw made the long trip down to Landrake in Cornwall for round one of the prestigious Maxxis British Motocross Championship in pleasant, rather mild and sunny conditions for the time of year.
The pace around the fast track was very hot even in qualifying but Neville managed to post a respectable fifth fastest time with the team’s second rider, James Harrison 27th.
In Superpole Neville upped his pace slightly, finishing fourth which would give him a good gate pick come race time.
At the start of the first MX2 race Neville got a reasonable start but tangled with another rider going up the start straight and had to shut off to stop going down.
This meant he was way back in 18th place come the end of the first lap and getting some good championship points was going to be a struggle, but Neville’s never give up attitude kicked in and off he went making his way forward and even catching and passing Jason Dougan and Martin Barr in the closing stages of the race – finishing in sixth place.
Meanwhile, James had a midfield start and held his own against some very experienced riders, finishing in 18th place.
In race two Neville didn’t get the start he wanted and came round the first turn in mid-pack but made steady progress through the pack to another sixth place, while James, after starting in 19th dropped back four places but managed to get two of those positions back before the end of the race for 21st.
The track was getting rough with deep ruts appearing in lots of the turns making it very one line where overtaking was always going to be hard, but luckily Neville left his best start of the day till race three and went round the first turn in ninth place.
He managed to pass a couple of riders on the first lap and spent most of the race dicing with Adam Sterry, till, with three laps to go he caught and past GP rider Matiss Karro for yet another sixth place in the race, which gave him fourth place overall.
After racing was finished for the day a contented Neville said, “In race one I hit someone up the start straight and had to come from 18th on the first lap but I managed to get passed Jason [Dougan] and Martin [Barr] late in the race for sixth place which wasn’t too bad considering.
“Race two was another start outside the top 10 which was a bit of a downer, but I rode good and managed to come through the pack, but only up to another sixth place. In race three I got round the first turn just inside the top 10, but struggled to come through on the fast one lined track and I notched up yet another six place finish, though it was a good race, and the top six finishers were all within seven seconds of each other so I could tell I have the pace of the top guys.
This all gave me fourth overall on the day, and that’s not exactly what I wanted but my bike speed and fitness is all good, and it’s a good base to work off of, and hopefully when we get to some more technical tracks we will be racing for podiums and race wins again”
As for James, he had a steady last race finishing in 25th but gained some valuable race experience and three valuable MX2 championship points.
