No Fear Honda staged one of their most successful meetings of the season yet at the Newcastle round of the National Motocross Championships on Sunday, rightly earning the manufacturer three podiums in the two professional classes.

The tough, wet and dreary Barleigh Ranch location took its toll, with many of the top riders being slowed down prematurely whilst Honda’s Craig Anderson, Cody Cooper and Troy Dorron all kept their wits about them to gain much needed Championship points and a place on the dais.

For the third straight round, Ando finished in the number one spot at his home track with a one, two finish in the Pro Open motos. He also picked up a much needed extra point for qualifying in a contest that is starting to look like it will come down to the wire.

After clocking up five race wins already this season, Ando is now just nine points behind series leader Daryl Hurley with four rounds remaining.

“It’s a great feeling to win here in Newcastle,” the multiple Champion said. “Of course, it would have been nice to get a few more points up my sleeve against Hurley but at least I grabbed that extra point for qualifying.”

“It was a tough meeting and not everything went smoothly. A lot of the top guys weren’t able to finish their races. I crashed in the first race and had to come back pretty hard but it all worked out fine in the end.”

Cooper was not far behind Ando in the morning, qualifying in a close second to his team mate. The Honda men were also the two quickest riders in moto one with times in the region of 1 minute 34 seconds.

After a third place overall finish that came with its fair share of dramas, Cooper remains in fourth position in the series with a gap of only three points now separating him from the top three.

“I’ve had a string of bad luck for sure, but I managed to get some decent results anyway. In moto one I got a flat tyre and then in moto two, I lost my rear brake and found it pretty hard to gain some ground so finishing third overall wasn’t too bad.”

After a solid performance, recurrent Lites performer Dorron also grabbed a podium finish, and more importantly, now leads the Championship.

Doz finished on equal points for the round with Cameron Taylor and leads the series by six points from Ryan Marmont going into the final two months of the season.

Doz last won the Pro Lite Title in 2002 but his form has never faltered. He has not finished off the podium since 1999, except for last year when he was out injured for a number of rounds.

On his return to the prime spot, the elder statesman said, “I’m stoked to come away from this round as the series leader. It’s a nice position to be in.”

“I’ve been putting in the work and just trying to be as consistent as possible and it’s paying off. The aim now is to hold on to that lead for the rest of the season.”

Honda’s Danny Anderson also put together his best performance of the series thus far with a fifth place finish, catapulting himself up one spot and coming away with renewed confidence.

“Yeah I’m much happier with my riding and my results today,” the younger Anderson said. “I felt good and got decent starts so that made a big difference. I’ve moved up a bit now in the series and hope to keep the momentum going.”

Whilst the boys kept the flag flying in the 450cc and 250cc class, Bec Lipsett finished 33 out of a field of 40 male riders in the amateur’s National Cup. She continues to ride in the series in preparation of the Women’s Title to be held in conjunction with the final two rounds of the national series in Newcastle and Coolum.

“This was a new sort of track for me so I was pretty happy to finish both races without incident,” she said. “I’m reaching some personal best goals and am improving with each week as the season goes by.”

With the Team coming away all smiles from Newcastle, Team Manager Pip Harrison said it was not without its nervous moments.

“It was a pretty mixed up day today and the overall win could have gone a number of ways,” he said.

”The top riders all had their own problems to deal with but Ando rode extremely well so it was his day in the end. All of the other No Fear Honda riders did a good job today too and we just need to keep chipping away to make sure everything keeps moving forward as it should.”