The Apico Honda team made the longest journey on the calendar down to Landrake for round 3 of the Motul Fastest 40 powered by Michelin tyres last weekend. With the event being Saturday racing only for the Apico Pro MX1 and Leatt Pro MX2 Classes, the team opted to run from the race van.
Martin started things off very well, putting his fastest timed qualifying lap in on his second attempt for 3rd gate pick in the races. Tom was not far behind, just shy of half a second behind Martin to give him the 6th quickest time and pick of the gate.
Martin Barr: “I was happy with my P3 in qualifying, it’s not a secret that I’m not a fan of the track and usually struggle there. Saying that, I did enjoy it a lot more on my Honda CRF450R, I felt more comfortable riding the track”.
Martin lined up next to his teammate for the first race and didn’t get the best of starts. “I managed to hook bars with Tom off the start and didn’t get a clean run up the start straight, after a couple of corners coming down the hill the front end tucked in and I nearly went down, I managed to save it and went off the track which cost me several positions. I was quite far down the running after the first lap, the way the track was prepped there were not as many ruts, so the passing opportunities were not as great. I fought to the end and managed to pass Tom on the last lap for 5th in race 1”.
Tom Grimshaw: “I feel like this weekend was a step in the right direction, we changed how we did things this weekend and Martin was a big help. He’s had a solid start to the year and learning from his experience has been helpful”.
The track was perfect in the morning for practice, though it dried out somewhat for the racing. This didn’t allow the riders to develop different lines and made it hard to pass during the racing. “The times were very close and most of us were around the same speeds, so making passes was difficult”. Tom managed to hold 5th position for most of the race until his teammate made the pass on the final lap for Tom to finish the race in 6th position in the Apico Pro MX1 Championship.
“I had a decent start in race 2, though on the outgoing lap, I lost a few positions, and it was tough to pass, though I got my head into the race and was unable to find the extra seconds every lap to catch the riders in front of me. Martin managed to catch and pass me around the half-distance mark, though after that nobody got near, and I rode the race out for 7th and 7th overall”.
Dylan Brown: “We had a long journey down to Landrake and unfortunately the results were not quite as I’d hoped. This was mainly hampered by the starts and tough nature of the track, though this was the same for everyone. That said, Martin is now 3rd in the Apico MX1 Pro Championship and Tom is 5th. We have a few weeks until the next race to ready ourselves for the Dirt Store British Motocross Championship at Blaxhall.
“Thanks to the sponsors and everyone on the team for their commitment to doing what it takes to make this all happen”.
Words and Images by Apico Honda
