BRAD 3RD @ HAWKSTONE

Sunday, 28 August 2011 00:00

IMAGES & WORDS ADE THREASHER

After the high of the great result at last weekend at the British Grand Prix, in his own words,Brad had a ''bad bad weekend'' at Round 5 of the Red Bull Pro Nationals held at Hawkstone Park near Shrewsbury, but the reality was that he took 3rd overall and extended his points lead over 2nd place by 1 point.

In race 1 Brad come round in 2nd on the opening lap and was trying to keep hold of Tommy Searle who was out in front making a rare guest appearance not only in the series but riding the MX1 class aswell in preparation for the MX of Nations, where he is part of Team GB along with Brad. Although Brad was keeping Tommy insight for the first half of the race, he could never quite get close enough to mount a challenge for the lead. It all changed at the halfway stage though as Brad lost his silencer, now down on power Tommy was able to get away and the guys behind were soon catching up. Brad held onto 2nd for a few more laps but with 3 to go he found himself relegated to 4th place, fortunately to rest were further behind and Brad managed to cross the finish line still in 4th, but with the lack of a silencer he failed a post race noise test and recieved a 1 minute time penalty which left him in another place back in 5th.

Race 2 again saw Tommy out in front and this time he was gone, Brad was again in 2nd place and he had a small gap over the next MX1 rider, but he didnt look his usual self and never seemed as comfortable as usual. With Tommy long gone Brad was caught towards the end of the race by Gert Krestinov, but the Estonian could never find a way past and Brad went on to take 2nd by just 1 second at the finish.

Brad now has a 57 point lead in the championship over Martin Barr, and has a chance of sealing the MX1 title as the series heads to Desertmartin in Northern Ireland for its penultimate round next weekend.