Dual British Motocross Champion Brad Anderson has spoken of his experience as part of Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing in the 2012 MX Nationals, impressed with the size of the Australian Motocross Championships during his time in Australia.
Dual British Motocross Champion Brad Anderson has spoken of his experience as part of Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing in the 2012 MX Nationals, impressed with the size of the Australian Motocross Championships during his time in Australia.
After winning on debut in a one-off appearance at Raymond Terrace in 2010, Anderson was lured by Honda for 2012 to compete here full time, noting the budgets of the factory teams as a real step above those witnessed in the UK.
“I think the situation with the team I was on, the Carlton Dry Honda team, the budget was all there,” Anderson explained to MXlarge. “That opened my eyes, because I had seen nothing like that before, it was a little more like in America, more so than at home or in the GP series.
“The amount of money that team went through, they didn’t hold back on anything – they had a lot of money and a big budget from Honda. Then you come home and you think, bloody hell, the team in England could do with a little more support from the manufactures.”
Anderson finished the outdoor season fourth in the championship standings, but wasn’t totally satisfied after entering the series as a legitimate title threat.
“I wasn’t really satisfied,” he admitted. “I had some bad luck really, a bit of trouble with my mechanic, some DNFs and stuff. If I didn’t have those DNFs I would have been a lot closer to the championship, maybe it would have gone down to the wire, but with little problems it set us back a bit.
“I lost too many points and was then trying too hard to get the points back, making more mistakes.”
Still, it was a season that Anderson holds no regrets, now returning to the UK with Kawasaki as he and wife Hayley are expecting the birth of their first child.
“I loved every minute of it,” he added. “I have said to people if I didn’t try it this year I would have looked back on my career and been saying I wish I went to Australia. The team and everything was awesome. I could have stayed another year, but with the circumstances with Hayley and stuff, we had to come back.”
Click here for the complete interview with Anderson.