The No Fear Honda Team couldn’t have asked for a more sublime finish to Broadford’s round eight of the National Motocross Championships.

The Team laboured extremely hard to earn three number one plates for the day including two class wins for Cody Cooper (Pro Open) and Troy Dorron (Pro Lite), and the series leader ‘red plate’ being passed to Craig Anderson.

A heartfelt comeback ride from last place to finish fifth after a moto one crash, and a solid sixth place finish in moto two, resulted in Anderson taking the lead in the Championship by 25 points from Daryl Hurley who retired early due to injury.

‘Ando’ toiled through moto two in a fair amount of pain after injuring his hand in the first bout. However he remained focused after nearly being taken out again early on in the race, eventually finishing sixth overall for the round.

“I’m really happy with finishing strongly enough to take home the red plate today,” the 28 year old rider said. “After winning quite a few races over the past few rounds but not taking the lead in the series, I feel like I have well and truly earned it now.”

“That first moto was extremely tough,” Ando explained. “Hurley and I both came down early on and I had to work my way back up through the whole pack. I guess he injured his knee on that crash and I hurt my hand.”

“I didn’t really notice the pain that much until I got off the bike so by the time the second moto came, I just had to ride through it and do the best I could. I’ll be ok for the coming weekend though and I’m stoked to go into the second to last round with a fair lead.”

Whilst Ando celebrated his well deserved results, team mate Cody Cooper was once again clearly the fastest rider in the field. After qualifying in pole position, Cody went on to win moto one by 18. 3 seconds. At one point in the race, he led the pack by 27 seconds and clocked the quickest lap 1.6 seconds faster than any other rider in the field.

“I knew I could get a really fast pace here so when I got into the lead in moto one, I just tried to get as much distance as possible between myself and the next guy,” Cooper commented.

“I slowed down a bit toward the last part when I knew I had enough of a gap. That’s really the way you want all your races to go.”

His dream race wasn’t to be in moto two however, and after a bad start where he came out of the first corner in around 18th position, Cooper fought brilliantly up through the pack to finish third and take the overall win for the day – his first round win of the season.

His efforts have now moved him up to third in the Championships on 278 points. “Its my aim to finish in the top three in this series so I’m pretty stoked.”

Although still recovering from a damaged shoulder ligament, star Lite’s rider Troy Dorron provided another first place podium finish for the Team after an impressive second and first place race finish.

‘Doz’ led most of moto one before arm pump got the better of him, but he recovered in time for the next moto running a strong race in second until the final few minutes when he passed series leader Ryan Marmont for the win.

“I had a great day out here,” the seasoned rider said. “I was a little disappointed to lose out on that first moto win but I made up for it in the next race, and still took the overall round win which was what I needed to do after that dismal round in Toowoomba.”

”My shoulder actually didn’t feel too bad at all today so that was a bonus. The title is still wide open to any of the top three riders and I think it will really come down to the wire over these last two rounds. There should be some great racing to look forward to at Newcastle and Coolum.”

Doz remains in third position in the series on 281 points from Cameron Taylor in second place on 292 points, and Marmont on 319 points.

The Team’s second Pro Lites rider, Danny Anderson, unfortunately had another round he would rather forget however he remains in 11th place in on the Championship ladder.

“This was another frustrating day for me. I was pretty quick in qualifying and at one point was running about fourth quickest, but it just didn’t come together for me at race time. I crashed pretty hard in moto two around lap eleven, so again, I missed out on points. I still think I’ll finish in the top ten by the end of the series, but the season hasn’t really gone as well as I’d hoped.”

In the lead up to the Women’s Championship rounds, Rebecca Lipsett also joined the National Cup field, finishing both races. “I enjoyed getting out again today with the National Cup guys and am always happy when I’m able to finish my races without incident. I felt pretty good and am now just looking forward to the Women’s series at the final two rounds.”

Team Manager Pip Harrison was clearly thrilled with the Team’s turn of events. “We finished with a first in both classes, and have moved into the Championship lead so it was a brilliant day for us,” he said.

“The track was fantastic and our Team are working extremely well together. I am a happy man today and I know the riders are all relatively happy. The next few weeks will be hectic for sure, but we’re looking forward to it.”

The Team can next be seen this weekend at Newcastle’s round nine of the series.