Brad Anderson
Published: 18th March 2008
Author: Words and photos by Sutt
Looking to sniff out success on the world stage in 2008, Rocky’s dad – that’s Swift Suzuki’s new signing Brad Anderson – has the racing pedigree to run at the front of the pack…
“Hi my name’s Brad. I race motocross, it’s my job and my life… I live and breathe motocross.” Although it reads something like a singles ad, Brad Anderson’s Myspace ‘About me’ pretty much hits the nail slap bang on the bonce and sums up the 26-year-old perfectly.
After pedalling his pants off to a European BMX title at the age of seven the tenacious young terror from Tow Law figured motocross was much more fun and traded in his 20in pushrod for a KX60 then never looked back. A full 19 years on and Ando’s preparing for his first full season as a fully-fledged GP racer with Swift Suzuki – life has never been sweeter…
Before signing for Swift, 2007 was an up and down year for Brad racing for the Pioneer Yamaha team owned by legendary Londoner Roy Emberson. Initially joining the team for the ’05 season – fresh from winning the KWS 125cc Pro championship on a two-stroke Bikesport KTM – the pair gelled instantly. “Me and Roy are like the same person in a way because we both don’t give a ***k – we just get on,” reckons Ando and success soon followed. Bringing home the British four-stroke championship in ’05 and ’06 with a British Masters title thrown in for good measure, Brad’s best year of all actually came last year when he didn’t win a bean - well not a championship anyway…
“Results wise, speed wise and the fact that I stayed injury free means it probably was my best year ever but the stator problem with the bike put a bit of a downer on it and definitely cost me my third four-stroke title.” While the pesky problem only caused Anderson to DNF one moto of the Maxxis British championship it frequently dogged the Pioneer Yamahauler throughout the British four-stroke series where Anderson had a frustrating win-or-push-it-to-the-pits scorecard.
“Even before the stators started breaking down I was telling my mechanic Mike [Foster] that I didn’t really want to do the four-stroke series because I was taking the pee by winning quite easily. It was obviously very important to the team sponsors that I won the four-stroke championship again – which is something I respect – but as soon as we knew that I couldn’t win the title because of all the breakdowns we were then able to miss the remaining rounds and go to the GPs instead.”
A rousing opening ride at Teutschental’s GP of Germany netted the North Easterner a superb 11th in moto one but the stators of doom continued to haunt Brad in both France and Belgium when the #60 Yamaha rider was battling on the brink of the top-10 – it was just gonna be one of them years. But as well as offering Anderson yet more opportunities to improve his fitness by pushing his bike back to the pits the GPs served a much more useful purpose. “The few GPs I did brought on my speed no end,” claims Brad. “But the real bonus was that more and more teams were noticing me. It was pretty common knowledge by then that my stators were going and that the DNFs weren’t my fault.”
While Brad’s efforts in the GPs were undoubtedly impressive it was surely his domestic form that had interested teams ringing his phone off the hook come the end of the season. “Aye, the British went pretty well,” claims Brad. “I got the holeshot in the first race of the first round at Canada Heights and I thought ‘eh up, what’s going on here like?’. It was my first time on a 450 in the Maxxis and I tensed up letting Billy, Ken and Crockard past me. I ended up fourth but between races I came up with the realisation that I could actually do it and I held it together for a second – I was well pleased with that.”
After a so-so round two which included the first of the stator breakdowns everything came good at Lyng for round three with Anderson and the Pioneer team celebrating a long awaited overall win but one that Brad’s not totally over the moon with.
“In my opinion it wasn’t a proper win. In the first race De Dycker passed me for the lead and he was going good but his exhaust broke up – he was given a one-minute time penalty and that gave me my first Maxxis moto win. In the second race I held off Noble to win the overall – my first ever at this level. To be honest I was happy with it but in my opinion I didn’t win it fair and square – if I had I’d have been really pumped.
“That win pushed me on to the next round at Langrish where I had a really good battle with De Dycker in the first race. I was riding confident and although Ken pulled away a little bit by the end I was sure I could do it again in the second race.” But when Keeno faltered at the start of moto two it was MacKenzie who Brad had his hands full with instead.
“Billy got out front and we both pushed very hard and kept about the same gap throughout the race. Billy said himself that it was one of the hardest races he’s ever had and he took the overall with a 3-1 over my 2-2 – I’d have actually got the overall if Crockard’s chain hadn’t broken in moto one when he was running third ahead of Billy with one lap to go.”
To put into perspective just how great Brad’s ride at Langrish really was you’ve got to remember that just one week earlier MacKenzie had seriously spanked the world’s best at Sugo in Japan. “Billy was definitely bringing the confidence of his Japanese win with him,” recalls Anderson. “He said himself that he was really pumped for that weekend and after being able to battle with him – one week after he won a GP and on such a mental high – really made me think.” It obviously made others think too and it wasn’t long after before a deal with the Swift Suzuki team was sealed, signed and delivered.
“The Pioneer team and I parted on good terms and both Roy and Mike have said that if I ever want to go back I’m more than welcome. I know what happened with the stators was just one of those things and to be fair the team were doing everything they could to stop the problem including fitting a new one for every race. But at the end of the day Pioneer Yamaha just couldn’t offer me a full GP ride, Swift can and they’re also a really good team – one of the most professional outfits out there and they’re only going to get bigger and better.”
With the new team comes a new bike and with that new bike comes some new – to motocross at least – technology. Unproven so far off-road, Electronic Fuel Injection is the next big thing in dirt bike technology and Suzuki have got there first with it fitted as standard on the ’08 RM-Z450. “I really like my new 450 but it’s really taking some getting used to as with the EFI the power’s right there so when I land off jumps or go through whoops I’ve just got to watch what I’m doing. If I grab too much throttle there’s so much power there I hang off the back like my Ma’s washing and I just have to hope for the best. It’s okay though, I’m starting to get used to it now so I’ll be ready for kicking some people’s arses when the season starts.”
So you’re not nervous at all then Brad? “Nah, if you get nervous the job’s knackered. To be honest I can’t see why I can’t be in the top 10 in the world – I’ve just got to get out of the gate and show them I can mingle. If you think about it I was the only rider at the front of last year’s British championship who wasn’t doing the full GP season and I was running with and sometimes beating GP race winners like Ken and Billy so I know I can do it.”
Favourite things…
Bradley’s best bits baby!
Drink – “Relentless”
Food – “Pasta”
Track – “Hawkstone”
Rider – “Stefan Everts”
CD – “Awww, ***king ’ell, what sort of a question is that? The Rocky album I suppose and I like Pink, she’s quite cool”
Celebrity – “Angelina Jolie”
Car – “Black Hummer with chrome wheels or a Porsche 911 turbo”
Film – “Rocky or Gladiator”
Item of clothing – “G-Star jeans”
Book/Magazine – “DBR of course!”
Biscuit – “Jammie Dodgers”
Chocolate bar – “Galaxy”
Animal – Rocky my British Bulldog”
Result – “Lyng – Maxxis round 2007”
Place – “Tow Law or Australia (not the Rockies then? – AS)”