Brandon rides to glory in front of 6,000 crowd

6:36pm Tuesday 18th March 2008

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HE may have been the youngest and smallest on show but Brandon Sharples certainly rose to the occasion.

The eight-year-old made his debut in the recent ACU British Supercross Championships - culminating in a podium finish in front of 6,000 fans at London's O2 Arena.

It was a fantastic finale for the Benjamin Hargreaves Primary School pupil who stands little over 3ft tall but was certainly standing tall come the end of the championships.

Brandon, who has been riding since he was three, wasn't fazed at all about performing under the bright lights and in front of so many spectators, even after getting the worse possible start.

For the talented young rider from Accrington made his championship debut on his KTM SX50 at the Harlam Arena in Sheffield and promptly crashed out at the first corner.

But he showed great courage to get back on his bike to complete the race, although he did finish well down the field.

"It couldn't have been a worse start for him," said dad Mick. "This is a very big competition in front of a lot of people and to crash at the first corner was a shame.

"But the main thing is that he picked himself up and finished the race."

But despite the setback, Brandon picked himself up, dusted himself down and got on with it.

The youngster showed his class on his next outing in the two races held at the Liverpool Echo Arena where he claimed fifth and six place finishes.

It put him in confident mood heading to London and, after he was first to qualify for the final, Brandon finished in third place and took an impressive seven place overall in his first ever season.

The pocket rocket' proved to be a real crowd pleaser in the championship and after the Liverpool event, Brandon was invited to stand on the podium alongside Mike Brown, the eventual senior British Supercross champion, to demonstrate the difference in size.

"He was the youngest and the smallest one competing, added Mick whose runs Hyndburn Vehicle Services were Brandon's bikes are maintained. "So to see him up on the podium with Mike just proved that."

Brandon competed in the eight to 11-year-old category against some of the top young riders from across the country.

Only the top 12 got to ride race in each event so Brandon had to go through some nerve racking qualifying rounds against 50 or 60 other riders.

"It was pretty brutal stuff really when you consider they were just kids,"added Mick. "All these youngsters were racing just for a handful of places. As you can imagine, there were lots of tears."

The final event should have been at Wembley Stadium but was switched to the former Millennium Dome.

"He was the first to qualify and took a podium finish," said Mick. "To do that in his first championship is an incredible achievement."

Points from the event also counted towards the ACU North West championship where Brandon finished in second place overall.

"He loved it and was not overawed at all. He really likes the indoor motocross and we will definitely be going again later this year."

Until then, Brandon will be concentrating on the outdoor season and the two club championships - the first of which takes place on Easter weekend.

Brandon is a member Vale Motocross Club and Newton-le-Willows and has amassed more than 30 trophies since taking up racing competitively two years ago.

For Brandon, the British Supercross Championships were just another learning curve as he sets his sights on bigger and better things.

Mick said: "Brandon has already told me he wants to either become a professional Supercross rider or work with me in my garage.

"He's eight years-old and he already has his live mapped out in front of him!"