MOTOCROSS: Martin Barr up to fifth in British MX2 Championship

It has been a difficult time for the Doagh rider since his massive crash at the opening round at Culham but despite his injuries he is slowly regaining his early season form.

In qualifying he was second fastest and in his two races he finished third and second behind double winner Conrad Mewse on the Hitachi KTM.

Barr said: “I only did two qualifying laps to protect my hand, so I was pleased with second fastest. I fluffed my start in race one and had a lot of work to do to make it into third but in race two I got a better start and led for the opening laps until I made a big mistake and lost my rhythm.

“Still second wasn’t bad as I’m not one hundred percent fit yet. It’s frustrating but at the same time I have stepped up from 14th to fifth in the championship and it is a long season. “I head to Russia next week for the third round of the European Championship before returning home for round three of the British at Blaxhall at the start of May.”

Meanwhile, Carrick’s Graeme Irwin went into Canada Heights leading the MX1 championship and left in third after a disappointing race day, by his standards.

The ASA Hitachi KTM reigning British Champion qualified second but could only manage 11th in race one followed by third in race two that gave him fifth position overall behind Buildbase Honda rider Jake Nicholls.

“I was only seven hundredths off pole so I was happy with that but in race one I crashed at turn two and the bike wouldn’t start for about 45 seconds leaving me with a mountain to climb,” he said.

“It took a lot of energy to get back to 11th and in race two I just settled for a steady ride into third that gave me fifth overall.

“It wasn’t what I wanted and I’m 15 points behind in the championship but we can get back from this. I’m off to Russia this week for round six of the MXGP looking for more world championship points.”

Round one of the Maxxis British sidecar championship run by the North Armagh Club produced spills, thrills and brilliant racing at a sun-kissed Desertmartin last Saturday.

Stuart Brown with passenger Joe Millard showed why he is an 18-times British Champion as he took the overall victory to lead the championship from fellow English visitors Brett Wilkinson and Dan Chamberlain.

Top local pairing on the day was Gary Moulds, last year’s winner, with Niki Adair in the chair.

It was between Brown and Wilkinson as to who would take the overall win but in the final race Brown made sure of victory as he forced his way past Wilkinson a lap from home as they crossed the line to win by over five seconds.

“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong,” said winner Brown.

“We got first overall, that’s good, but it’s just so hard to pass around here.”

For Gary Moulds it was a case of what might have been.

“The speed was there but just couldn’t put a race together.

“We led two races and really should have been on the podium at the end of the day.

“Yes we’re happy with joint fourth but to get so close and miss out, is so frustrating as we give it our all during the race.”