Brad's the lad!
By Dick Law on 25th Jan 07
BRAD Anderson, on his Pioneer Yamaha, retained the 2006 British Four-stroke championship that he had fought so hard to get the year previously.
Looking back at the year long result sheet, it looks like the gritty north-easterner had it all his own way with a string of mid-season wins but that wasn't the case as PAR Honda team-mates Mark Jones, and for most of the season, Wayne Smith, kept up the pressure and made him work very hard indeed for the championship.
The eight round series got off to a wet start in late March at Whiteway Barton in Devon where the luckless West of England club even had to tow race trucks into the paddock before race day.
Anderson got off to a flyer in the first and only race of the day and made the muddy conditions look easy with team-mate Glen Phillips slotting in behind him.
Jordan Rose was into second place by the end of the opening lap though and the race was settled already, with only Jones overtaking Neville Bradshaw for third place by the end of the race.
As for the rest of the riders, well after two or three laps of racing, only their mothers could have picked them out.
Three weeks later, and with the weather a whole lot better, the series moved to Frome for round two where the PAR duo of Smith and Jones where unstoppable on the improved track.
Anderson was injured and just riding for championship points as team-mate Phillips took over the lead halfway round the opening lap from the fast starting Jody Smyth.
Smith took the lead half-way through the race as Phillips dropped back with mechanical problems and Jones made a charge back through the pack after stopping to replace a set of broken goggles.
Jones managed to claim second behind Smith with Alex Rach taking third and making it a PAR Homes Honda 1-2-3.
Smith got the holeshot in the second race but it was Jones who came round in the lead at the end of the lap and that was the last anyone saw of him as he stormed to a comfortable win with Smith coming in a distant second from Phillips and the struggling Anderson.
If Anderson was suffering at Frome, he was fighting fit at Hawkstone Park three weeks later where he took both races by storm and closed the gap on the then series leader Jones.
For full story, results and pictures see T+MX News, Friday, January 26, 2007