Last time we saw Brad Anderson race in Australia he won. In fact, it was the first and only time that the two-time British Motocross Champion has raced in the Monster Energy MX Nationals, but for 2012, he’ll be here full time and expects more of the same when it comes to results.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Anderson yesterday afternoon at the official series launch, held at Monster’s Aussie HQ, to see how his preparation is coming along. Needless to say, he’s just one more guy to add to the impressive list of series title threats.

Brad Anderson will race in Australia full time for Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing in 2012. Image: Shayne Rice, supplied by Honda.

Welcome to Australia first of all, you’ve been here for a while now, so how’s it been for you so far?

I’m just getting used to the weather, because when I first came over it was 37 degrees, but now it’s cooled down a bit. It’s been really good, we’ve moved into an apartment in Melbourne and the factory’s not too far away from where we live.

I go there and train every day, then get Marty [Dowd], my mechanic, to come riding every day. It’s a real good set up that we’ve got and I think it’s all going to work.

You came to Raymond Terrace and pretty much dominated in 2010, so has it been the goal to get back ever since then?

Yeah, well as soon as I did that I was talking to KTM and [Yarrive] Konksy [from Honda]. I thought I had a deal signed with KTM for [2011], and I told all the English teams out there that I had a deal in Australia. It fell through, so I was the last man in England to find a deal – sort of shot myself in the foot a bit.

After I won the British title again Konsky got in touch with us, but I wasn’t sure whether to tell everyone cos I didn’t want to shoot myself in the foot again by saying I had a deal sorted. As soon as the contract came through I told everyone, they were all surprised because I told them at the last round when I won.

They were a bit gutted really, because I have a lot of followers at home. To come over here though, I’m just really excited and hopefully I can get new followers over here!

Anderson and Jay Marmont will face off once again when the gate drops at Conondale on 1 April.

I would imagine that British Motocross is popular, so what’s the attraction to come and race in Australia?

Well there are a lot of people coming into the British championship, so that is really tough now, and obviously I knew there would be good riders in Australia.

They’re both really strong, so to come over here I would just say I wanted a new goal and a new opportunity since I’ve rode the British championship tracks since I was a little kid.

I was getting sick of the tracks, so Konsky gave me a deal to come out here, obviously with a good wage and stuff. That’s one of the main things what I look for as a rider.

You’re teammates with Ben Townley, which has taken the spotlight off you a little bit, so is that something you like in some ways? Less pressure…

I don’t mind stuff like that, because obviously Ben has been a world champion. I’ll come in as the underdog, the way I like to be, and hopefully I can rock it. Hopefully that will attract attention when I go out there and do rock it.

To finish, have you had a chance to ride Honda’s new test facility yet?

Well this last week it has been raining, but the track looks mega. I got out to ride it one day, but it was still a bit soft, so we laid off it to let it harden back up. What an awesome facility though, we can’t ask for much better than that.