Fantastic start for Supermotoland’s racing brothers

Anthony and Mat Ford-Dunn kicked off their 2012 Spanish supermoto championship in style with two podium finishes at the Villena, Alicante circuit on Sunday. There was a large crowd at the Villena circuit to watch the action from the 1st round of the 2012 Spanish championship.Anthony had qualified in 3rd position for the SM Open (elite class) and knew he was going to have a tough ride to beat the two Spanish riders next to him on the grid.

 The first of his two races saw Anthony chasing Israel Escalera and Francesco Cucharrera for the lead and the three of them broke away from the rest of the field in the early stages of the race before a lack of rear grip from Anthony’s bike meant that he had to settle for 3rd positions whilst Escalera narrowly beat Cucharrera after a race long battle for the lead that thrilled the watching fans.

The second race was even more dramatic with Escalera falling on the first lap in the dirt section leaving Anthony no option but to run over Escalera’s bike that nearly sent him over the handlebars of his own bike! Anthony then rode a frantic couple of laps to get himself into 2nd position before a small crash saw him drop to 3rd at the flag. The race was made even more dramatic by two Spanish riders crashing together on the start finish straight, that then saw race officials and Guardia civil having to separate the riders, who were unhurt in the incident, but clearly unhappy with the cause of the crash.

Anthony had done enough for 3rd position overall and was very happy with the result. ‘It was a shame that I could not fight for the win today but I just did not have the same rear grip as the leaders and that slowed me, I would like to thank the many British and Spanish race fans that turned up today to show their support and enjoy the days racing’ Said Anthony after he had collected him trophy from the podium presentation.

Anthony’s older brother Mat was equally pleased with his race results. He races in the SM30 class for riders over 30 years old and took an impressive win in his first race with the lead changing on the last lap due to Mat getting caught behind a back marker in the dirt section of the track. Mat managed to re-take the lead in the next corner and rode hard for the rest of the lap to take the win. The 2nd race saw Mat take the lead early on before the Catalan rider Joan Sanchez took the lead in the dirt section and opened a small gap that Mat just could not close and he had to settle for 2nd position. The two race results gave him 2nd overall for the days racing and on equal points for the championship lead in SM30.

The Supermotoland team will next be racing at the Valencian championships on Sunday 3rd June at Oliva, near Denia. Once again the teams sponsors, Advance Moves – international Removals and Stratton Motorsports will welcome anyone that wants to see a spectacular days racing at the Oliva circuit and will be present in the supermoto paddock at Oliva for race day.