The Buildbase Honda team travelled north to the sandy circuit of Preston Docks in Lancashire this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2014 MX Nationals Championship. Brad Anderson, Elliott Banks-Browne and Nez Parker were all present competing aboard the Honda CRF450R.
An issue with medical cover at the circuit on Saturday saw the round reduced to just two races, which took place on Sunday. As the gate dropped for the first outing, Banks-Browne got off to a good start and held steady to place fourth come the flag. Unfortunately Anderson and Parker crashed in separate incidents and although both managed to remount, they placed 12th and 17th respectively.
The second and final race of the weekend saw Banks-Browne round the opening corners in second place, however a continuing problem with arm pump caused him to drop down the order and he finished in sixth. Despite a shaky start, Anderson pushed hard to take third place. Parker crashed on the opening lap but recovered to ninth place.
At the end of the weekend, Anderson placed sixth overall to retain third place in the MX1 championship. Banks-Browne finished fourth overall and now sits seventh in the standings, while Parker finished 14th overall and is 18th with one round remaining.
In the MX2 class, Putoline Apico Honda had a successful weekend with Neville Bradshaw placing fourth and second. He leads the overall standings with 390 points. Team-mate James Harrison placed ninth and 17th and sits 10th in the standings.
Dave Thorpe – Buildbase Honda team manager
This weekend has been tough. Elliott rode consistently but just missed out on the overall podium again. For Brad and Nez it has been a difficult event with crashes limiting their results. We now have to prepare for the final Maxxis round in two weeks’ time.
Elliott Banks-Browne
Once again I felt as if my speed was there today but I seem to be having some troubles with my arms pumping up. I’ve tried everything on the bike to make it better but after ten minutes I can't hold on, which is very frustrating for me and the team. My next step is to have a specialist look at my arms to see what's going on as I’ve never suffered from arm pump like this before in my whole career.
Brad Anderson
It’s been an up and down weekend, I qualified ok on the Saturday, then in the first race I was riding well and crashed. In the second race I didn’t get the best start but pushed hard and got third so that was ok.
Nez Parker
This weekend wasn't good! I struggled with bike set up in the first race and with no warm-up I just had to try and race with it. We managed to get the bike better for second race and I got up to around fifth in first couple of laps but got taken out by another rider. I set off near the back and could only get to ninth. Overall it was a disappointing weekend.