Mark McLernon retains Quad Championship

The 27-year-old had a perfect afternoon qualifying fastest before racking up three dominant victories on the Quadbikes ‘R’ Us Yamaha.

In the opening race it was Welsh rider Dafyd Davies who made the hole shot but a broken axle sidelined him before the end of lap one leaving McLernon to take the win. Race two saw Olie Sansom and Harry Walker make all the running in the opening stages of the race before McLernon made his move on lap four for the lead and go on to win by over twenty seconds from Walker.

“I let Olie and Harry go for it at the start but I ran out of tear-offs after a few laps and had to hit the front,” said McLernon.

The track was watered before race three and McLernon was determined not to get caught in traffic and holeshotted the 12-lapper before going on to win by over ten seconds from Walker, adding his fourth British quad championship to his CV. “It was great to win another championship but now I need to focus on this weekend’s Ulster championship,” he said.

McLernon leads the Ulster title race by one point from Moria’s Dean Dillon heading into the final round at Seaforde this Saturday. After Seaforde he will team up with David Cowan and Sheldon Seal to compete in the world famous 12 Hours of Pont de Vaux race in France, the following weekend.

Lisburn’s Gary Moulds and Lewis Gray finished the 2022 British sidecar championship in third place after three tough races in the extreme heat at Cusses Gorse.

A difficult qualifying with the bike jumping out of gear saw the local crew fifth fastest behind English crews and championship contenders Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard and Stuart Brown/Josh Chamberlain, first and second.

After an engine change, race one saw Moulds finish a steady third behind Wilkinson and Brown.

Race two saw Brown get the hole shot with Wilkinson pushing the multi-British champion hard for the opening three laps before crashing out after getting tangled with a back marker. Moulds and Gray were fourth on the opening lap before working their way to second, but Wilkinson was charging hard and caught Moulds three laps from home to claim second.

It was all down to the final race to decide the championship and it was Wilkinson who took the chequered flag first, but Brown claimed his 17th British championship by one point as he crossed the line in second place with Moulds finishing another solid third to consolidate third in the championship.

“I’m over the moon with third place. It was tough out there in the scorching heat,” said Moulds.

Moulds and Gray have entered the final round of the World Championship on September 18th at Rudersberg, Germany the week before the FIM Europe Sidecarcross and Quadcross of European Nations, which will be held in Kramolin, Czech Republic.

Lisburn’s Neil Campbell and Ross Graham claimed sixth overall after finishing 5th-8th-6th at Cusses Gorse.

After finishing runner-up in 2021 Ballyclare’s Charley Irwin went one better at Clayshant MX track, Stranraer, lifting the 2022 Scottish youth rookie championship with four wins from four starts on Saturday.

“I knew I had to beat my nearest rival Lee Cameron twice to win the title and after qualifying fastest I was confident of getting the job done,” said Irwin.

Despite a puncture in race one and race three the 15-year-old never made a mistake as he led from gate to flag in all four races.

“If I made good starts I knew I could do it. Even with the punctures I had built up a good lead and was able to nurse the bike home. Thanks to everyone who helped me to the title,” smiled Irwin.

For Sunday’s racing the Discount Beds Honda rider decided to move up into the grade ‘B’ class and racked up another three wins racing his 250 Honda against the more powerful 450 machines.

Cole McCullough made a great start to the final round of the EMX125 championship in Finland, ending free practice 5th fastest before claiming 8th in timed practice.

“It was my best qualifying position in EMX and I was really looking forward to race one,” said McCullough.

The 14-year-old did not make a great start in race one and as he charged through the traffic he hit a rock on a jump face and ended up crashing out of the race.

Sunday’s second race saw the local teenager make a great start lying fifth on the opening lap. At the halfway stage he was still inside the top ten but a mistaken a crash late in the race dropped him to 26th by the flag.

The Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee rider said afterwards: “Not the reward I was hoping for, but I learned a lot, having the speed and being able to run comfortably in the top 10, It has been a tough first year racing in Europe but already I am looking forward to another full season in 2023.”