Team: No Fear Honda (factory Honda off road team)
Event: National Motocross Championships, Round 9
Where: Barleigh Ranch, Newcastle, NSA
When: Saturday & Sunday, July 15-16
Machines: CRF450R and CRF250R

Craig Anderson was in pain all weekend due to a hand injury sustained during practice some weeks ago that was aggravated further after a crash at round eight. This past week he was diagnosed as having a chipped bone in the thumb, however Ando was still able to qualify quickest at Newcastle - approximately half a second faster than anyone else in the field - and wrap up the weekend with two top six finishes.

Ando’s results gave him enough points to declare the Championship on 374 points with one round still to go.

Cody Cooper finished on the podium for the fourth time this year, and now sits just seven points behind Daniel Reardon.

Troy Dorron remains in third place in the series with one round to go. Nineteen points separates him from Cameron Taylor in second place. In nine rounds, he has finished on the podium five times.

Rebecca Lipsett took a few hard knocks at this first round of the women’s series after coming to grief more than once in moto one. She was still able to compete in the remainder of the day’s proceedings, but pulled up with significant bumps and bruises.

Quotes

Craig Anderson – “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I’ve won the title but obviously I’m rapt. My thumb is throbbing pretty bad just at the moment. It actually didn’t hurt that much in the first moto, and I led it for quite some time before crashing mid corner. My gear lever dug into the dirt, but I recovered and was still able to finish third. In the second race, I got the holeshot but just couldn’t hang on due to the pain. I knew I had to finish in the top six and that’s what I did so I’m really stoked. I’ll have to get this hand fixed and rest it as much as I can, especially before the next round of Supercross in Brisbane in two weeks.”

Cody Cooper – “I felt fast all day and rode pretty well. The problem in moto one was that first I lost the front end and crashed, and then someone knocked off my front brake lever so I didn’t have any brakes….again. That seems to happen to me a lot. I had a couple of big moments but managed to hang on. Third place overall wasn’t too bad.”

Troy Dorron – “I’m a bit frustrated with today’s results. I qualified quickest but things just didn’t come together at race time to give me top three results. I think I have third place solidly locked up in the series now, but I’ll be shooting for second place overall at the final round.”

Danny Anderson – “I’m pretty happy with my racing today. I did pretty well in the first race. I got away into fifth and stayed there, but in moto two, I got taken out more or less at the first corner. I was able to finish the race but I couldn’t make up much ground on that one.”

Rebecca Lipsett – “This isn’t how I wanted things to start off, but I wasn’t too unhappy with my result in moto two considering I was pretty sore. I was going pretty well in the last race of the weekend too, but unfortunately it was red flagged and no points were awarded. I should be able to finish more strongly next weekend.”

Pip Harrison – “We are very happy with the result and it’s good to win the Championship with a round to spare. These results are due to a really hard working team combined with one very focused rider. We will now concentrate 100% on getting both Cody and Doz across the line in second overall, and helping Digs and Bec to gain a few more places.”