By Carly Rathmell
April 10 2004

Christian Iddon had mixed results at the opening round of the 2004 British Supermoto Championships at Lydd yesterday. The reigning champion had varied fortunes come race day. Head of Husky Sport, Mike Carter, had delivered a 450 Husqvarna to the young 19-year-old and Iddon was keen to get it run in. Running throughout the spring/summer the weather sadly was not reflecting that fact, with gale force winds and heavy rain on Saturday. The atrocious weather conditions prevented the riders getting full track time, as the conditions were nearly impossible to ride in.

Conditions had improved slightly on race day, although large damp patches around the track were clearly visible. This wasn’t going to hinder Christian as he competed in his first 450 final on board the new Husqvarna. Gaining a healthy lead young Iddon was on a mission to show the crowd what the nifty 450 can really do.

Impressing the spectators with his unique riding style, it really gave them a taste of Supermoto and the sliding technique that Iddon has mastered so well. The Husqvarna 450 is still one of the newest bikes on the 450 market and already it is proving to be extremely competitive.

Christian wasn’t to be so lucky in the 650 Final. As the flag came down Christian had his head down and was determined to gain some valuable points at the start of the season. This wasn’t to be as, on lap two, Christian came to blows. As he entered one of the slow corners he got caught up and crashed. The crash damaged the bike’s CDI unit, which meant Christian, was unable to restart and remount.

This left an intense battle between David Tougher, Ady Smith and Jay Smith, who were locked in a tight battle for the first 650 win of the season. The races were being run at fifteen minutes per race, plus two extra laps. Husky Sport mounted Jay Smith was slicing through the field and had Tougher and Ady well in his reach.

Ten minutes passed and the heavens opened. The race was stopped and declared a result as they had run over half distance. A third place for Jay Smith and he was very content. New boy to the pack Dave McKee finished a very strong fifth. It was his first time out on the Husqvarna and the season looks to have started well for him.

Commenting, Jay said, “If I’d had the extra five minutes I might have been able to reel the two in. They were both very close and things were going really well. Still I’m really happy with third place and it’s given me some good points in the bag, which I can’t complain about.”

Dave McKee was equally pleased, saying, “The bike was really easy to adapt to and it really surprised me as it was a lot lighter than what I imagined it to be. I was using slicks in the 650 final and when I started to rain I lost two places, which I was a bit gutted about. It’s been a great opportunity for me to come on board into the Husky Sport squad. I’d like to thank Mike Carter for helping me out with this and I’m sure I can get some good results over the season.”