The sixth round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship saw the Maxxis Kawasaki by LPE team make the trip across the Irish Sea to Desertmartin in Northern Ireland. The great venue at Desertmartin didn’t disappoint as the team arrived at the circuit early on Saturday morning in preparation for the event.
After heavy overnight rain and continued light showers during the day, the track was left in very tricky conditions as the team headed out for Qualifying.

In the opening session Brad was able to post a quick time that would put him in 6th place, while Dorren struggled to get a clear and fast lap in and finished in 20th place. Guest rider for the weekend, James Hutchinson would finish the session in 27th place. Brad would advance to the Superpole session and improve on his time to finish in 4th place, but due to stopping on the track during the first session, Brad was handed a one minute penalty and would have to start from last gate pick.

After the lunch break it was time for the opening race of the day and as the gate dropped it was Dorren that made a strong start and rounded the first turn inside the top 5. For Brad a start penalty meant that he rounded the first turn outside the top 20 and had to battle hard all race long. James also suffered a bad start and was just inside the top 20 on the opening lap. At the front Dorren moved forward into the top 5 and looked settled, while Brad had moved into the top 10 and was closing the leaders quickly.

As the race came to a close Brad had passed Dorren for 6th and Dorren would finish in 7th place after a small crash in the closing laps. Hutchinson secured a point for 20th place in his opening ride for the team.

The second race of the day saw Brad make a much better start and complete the opening lap well inside the top 10, while Dorren suffered a crash in the first corner and had to start from the back. James also produced a great start and was just outside the top 10. As the race went on Brad moved into 4th place and rode a steady race to the finish with the leaders not too far ahead. James continued to hold position just outside the top 10 in 11th place at the finish, while Dorren suffered a DNF due to damage suffered to the bike in the first turn crash.

The third and final race of the day saw the weather conditions improve and both Brad and Dorren made ok starts inside the top 10, but for James a few small crashes and mistakes forced him out of the race. As the race went on Brad finished 6th for 5th overall on the day and Dorren would go onto finish in 8th for 10th overall.

The team now moves to Culham for the next round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals next Sunday.

Brad Anderson
The weekend’s events all started when I was given the time penalty in qualifying for stopping on the track. I had the last gate pick all day and that meant I was at a real disadvantage on the wet and muddy start straight. But I can’t complain as it’s the rules and it has happened now.

In the first race I finished in 6th place and in the second race I was 4th. Going into the last race I was joint third overall and knew I needed a good result, to get on the podium but someone crashed in front of me and it ruined my race! I finished in 6th place. My speed is there now and I just need to get out of the gate.

Dorren Coutts
Today was pretty good my bike was strong and my speed was up there for being in the top 5. I finished the day with a 7th and a 8th which is good and is progress. It’s just unfortunate that I crashed in the second race resulting with a DNF, so to finish 10th overall with just two races is good. We are going in the right direction and I look forward to next week now.

James Hutchinson
The weekend was really good as it was my first time riding the Kawasaki and the track was really hard and wet. I scored a point in the first race and then 11th in the second race so it’s been a good learning curve and I am looking forward to doing a few more races with the team.

Steve James
It’s been a tough weekend for all involved this weekend due to the weather and the track conditions but fair play to the organising club and the ACU for putting the event on and also being able to run the full timetable on time in these conditions, the facilities here are second to none and without them the event would have been much worse. The track held up very well and produced some good racing. Today, we were still improving and it looks like 5th overall is our favourite place at the moment.

Brad rode really good today and was looking more like his old self he got a well earned 5th overall but slipped to 6th in the standing by 2 points to Matiss Karro but the points have closed up in front of us so we need a good last two rounds.

Dorren is coming back to form and getting better each week, its just unfortunate that he had the DNF in the second race or he would have been around 6th overall but he still got 10th overall from two races and so it wasn’t a total disaster and we are definitely moving forward with both Dorren and the bike.

Jack Brunell was unable to race this weekend due the preparation for his forthcoming wedding so we drafted in guest rider James Hutchinson and he did a great job in what was only his second Maxxis event after having just a day on the bike. He scored a point in the first race after the clutch failed on the last lap dropping him from 12th to 20th and then in the second race he finished 11th which was mega. Unfortunately he had some suspension issues in the last race and wasn’t able to finish but he showed lots of natural speed and a lot of promise. There are two or three other races that Jack Brunell can’t do for us due to him getting married and some Supercross races that Jack will be doing in Europe so we will be working with James again very soon.