Solid 12th place for Anthony Alonso at Brands

Brands Hatch was a mixture of good and bad fortune for speedy California kid Anthony Alonso. After rushing back from his successful try out for the Red Bull Rookies in Spain, arriving at 1.30am on the Friday morning at Brands Hatch, he was on track in the first practice session at 9am on a wet unfamiliar circuit.

 In the afternoon session Anthony continued to make steady progress in preparation for Saturday's two twenty minute qualifying sessions. Early in Q1 Anthony lost the front end and went down at Sheene Curve. Fortunately Anthony was unhurt and the bike only suffered superficial damage and was quickly repaired in time for Q2. Unfortunately for Anthony Q2 was cancelled due to a lengthy track clean up because of track contamination, leaving the American youngster way down in 28th place on the grid for Sunday's 14 lap race. That robbed him of valuable track time, leaving only the 8 minute warm up session on race-day morning to learn as much as he could.

 For the race Anthony was in determined mood and got a terrific start and began to make up positions.  

Anthony Alonso - "My dad and I talked, and we knew it was important to get a good start. In warm-up I did a couple of practice starts to get ready. When the lights went out, I pushed as hard as possible. T1 was tricky, so I waited until T2, the hairpin, to make my move. I passed a bunch of riders there.

My fastest all weekend had been a 1:43, when I looked at my pit-board and saw I was doing 1:40s I started to smile. I kept going as fast as I could and kept seeing my position and lap times improve. I ended up doing consistent 1:38s, 5 seconds faster than my practice & qualifying  best time!"

Ivan Alonso (Father) - "When I saw Anthony's lap time on the screen I did a double-take because I could not believe it. He kept improving every single lap and making up positions. By the time of the race, he'd only had about 30 minutes of dry track-time at Brands Hatch"

Anthony concluded "I am happy to have finished 10th in the Motostar Cup and 12th overall at Brands Hatch. I learned a lot this weekend. It was awesome hanging out with Steve and my team-mates, Tom, Elliot and Jordan. I learned a lot from them. I told my dad I want to come back here next year. Hopefully we can make it work."

Alonso senior concluded "Brands Hatch is a tough circuit. We learned a lot this weekend and all throughout we had the support of the SP125 Racing team. We have been lucky to have found the best team in the BSB paddock. We want to come back to the BSB Championship next year as a way to augment Anthony's races in the RedBull MotoGP Rookies Cup. As soon as we return to the U.S. I will begin working with our current sponsors and look for new sponsors to try to make it happen."

 This concluded a 3-week trip that saw Anthony race with WERA at Fontana, CA., test at Mallory Park, race at Silverstone (where he placed 3rd in the Motostar Cup), try out and get invited to the 2013 RedBull MotoGP Rookies Cup and finally race at Brands Hatch.

The Alonso's would like to thank Bud, BayAreaRiderForum.com, Evolution Motorcycles, Iain Hutton, Suomy America and the rest of Anthony's 2012 sponsors for their support and help.


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