Both Crendon Fastrack Honda riders Tommy Searle and Jay Hague raced to second place on the MX Nationals podium in the penultimate round of the series at a showery Landrake in Cornwall. Searle took a pair of second places in the MX1 class after coming tantalisingly close to victory both times out on his CRF450R.
And in the MX2 class, Hague took his CRF250R to his first national-level race win for the team in the opening race then backed it up with a fourth in race two for second overall – just one point off the top step of the podium.
After a disappointing race at the Blaxhall British championship last week, Searle spent several days testing with the team and arrived at the track refreshed and with his bike handling better than ever.
He led the first race from the off in fine style, fending off attacks all the way from series leader Harri Kullas. When Searle made a small mistake on the penultimate lap, Kullas was through and held on to the flag. Second time out Searle was third off the start but eventually caught up to the leader Kullas, setting the fastest lap of the race by more than 1.5 seconds. The pair staged an incredible last lap dash to the flag but Searle’s plans to make the pass for the win were scuppered when he ran too deep into a corner. He finished in second place again, just 1.1 seconds off the win, to take second overall.
Searle said: “Landrake is a track I like and had a good day. I had two very different races. In the first one I had a holeshot and rode well. I was smooth but then on one lap I made a couple of mistakes and Harri was able to get around me.
“In the second race I was third and made a few mistakes but I wasn’t worried as I knew I had the pace to catch up. In one lap I pulled back four seconds on them and put myself into a position to make a pass on the last lap. But I rushed it in the corner before I was going to make my move and I was disappointed as I’d done all the work. But it’s a massive step forward today and I’m a lot more confident heading into the final few races of the season.”
Following his nasty crash last week, Hague was unsure he was actually fit enough to race but decided to give it his best shot. And that shot was on target as in the opening moto he settled into a blistering pace at the head of the MX2 pack and won by almost five seconds from his nearest rival.
Second time out he didn’t get such a great start but was soon catching up to the leaders and aiming to put a move on for second place when he twisted his injured knee in a rut. He bravely rode through the pain barrier and managed to bring the Crendon Fastrack Honda home in fourth spot which gave him second overall.
Hague said: “It’s been a rough week as I had a nasty crash last week at Blaxhall, but I thought I’d give it a go. In race one came from a sixth place start, picked off the riders and got the win. In race two had a bad start again, came through then dabbed my leg hard.
“I’ve been second on the podium at the last two rounds of this championship so it’s all good. I’m definitely happy considering I didn’t know if I was going to ride
