Loughlin gearing up for new motocross season

Loughlin returned from the Coup de L’Avenir event in Belgium where he finished number one Irish rider.

The 14-year-old, who was competing against riders who were older than him, helped Ireland finish ninth in the competition which had riders from all across Europe taking part in. But things could have been different.

The Irish team was disqualified after they arrived at their starting blocks late in the third and final race and with Germany protesting Loughlin and his team-mates were booted out of the competition.

“Basically we were late getting to the holding error or the gates and over there the rules are very strict so being late by two minutes was a big deal,” he stated.

“At the time we were fourth and we were five points behind the Germans who were third going into the last race and they protested and we got disqualified unfortunately.

“We finished ninth out of the ten countries that took part in the competition, so it wasn’t too bad, but it’s a case of what might have been.

“It’s like school you learn something new at every competition, you have to be on time and we weren’t, so we’ll know in future.

“It was good and I think I done well, but the other lads did well too, but I’m happy with my performance.”

Although the motocross season is now over, things continue for the Lisneal College pupil, in fact he’s already gearing up for next year and thinking about his future in the sport.

It’s a sport which his father Philip competed in years ago, in fact his father rode in the Under 21 Irish Team in 1996 competition, which also took place in Belgium. Philip had just turned 16 years prior to that event and was the youngest member of the team.

“Hopefully in a couple of years time if I put in the hard work that I can make it to British Championship level and then we’ll see from there, maybe the World Championships some day,” admitted Matthew.

“The season is over now but in the Under 16’s I got third in the Ulster Championship and fourth in the Irish Championship so I was happy enough with that.

“Next year I’m on a bigger bike, this year I was on an 85cc, next year I’ll be on a 250, it has more power and I need to be stronger, so hopefully I can get a bit stronger and train over the winter.

“The bike season is over now, but I continue to train before and after school, some mornings I’m at the gym at 6.30am, but I really enjoy the sport and want to improve every year.”