Wednesday September 21, 2011 at 12:51pm
This year’s FIM Motocross of Nations took place at St Jean D’Angely in France on the 17th and 18th September, and Team Great Britain travelled to the event with high hopes of Podium joy. Following recent good results Tommy Searle, Dean Wilson and Brad Anderson all hoped to perform well on the France track situated on the hillside.
The event started with tradition gate pick for position in the qualifying heat, where Team GB received gate pick number 24 out 36 nations. This would mean that the start would be vital to gaining a good result. On the Saturday Dean Wilson produced a superb third place finish, while Tommy Searle produced a 9th place finish and Brad Anderson posted 12th place giving Great Britain 7th places qualification for the Sunday races.
Saturday Night would see a heavy rain shower leaving the track in a wet and tacky condition ready for racing to start on Sunday morning. The opening race of the day would see Tommy Searle and Dean Wilson take to the track first. Searle produce a fantastic fourth place and would be backed up by a ninth place finish from Wilson. The two strong results placed Team GB in 1st position after the opening race of the day.
The second race of day would see the event take a number of twists and turns. The first being when Wilson crashed on the third lap and slipping back to outside the top 20, this was followed by a smaller crash later in the race, which restricted him to a 27th place finish. Anderson produced a strong result from the outside gate and had to work hard to recover to 14th place at the flag.
The final race of the day would see Searle start down in 20th place and have to work his way forward all race long. Meanwhile Anderson started in 11th place and worked hard to maintain his place before finishing 15th place. Searle continued to work hard to produce another stunning 4th place finish. The result of the mishaps in race two would see the British team miss the podium be just 2 points and finish in fourth position.
The overall result would see the American’s take the victory ahead of the French team in second place. Third place on the day went to Australia, followed by Team Great Britain in fourth and team Belgium in fifth place.