AllMoto Yamaha deal for Richard Bird

The Ulster and Irish champion has swapped the KTM machinery that has carried him to many race wins and titles over the past ten seasons to the new YZ450F Yamaha which he firmly believes will see him back on top in the forthcoming year.

“I’ve been with KTM for the past ten years and the change to Yamaha will certainly be different but we have spent a couple of weeks in Spain testing with the team and getting the bikes sorted for the new season and it is all going well,” said Bird.

“As far as the team is concerned their main focus will be the Irish and MX Nationals championships but that won’t stop me racing the Ulster championship as well.”

The Lisburn man is obviously you are looking forward to the new season.

“Yeah the change will be good for me. I’m not getting any younger and it really has brought the buzz back in to my racing,” said Bird.

The 33-year-old’s last championship winning season was back in 2018 when he won the Irish, Ulster and MX Nationals Expert championships, so can he repeat it in 2020?

“2018 was a great season but 2019 was a strange old year,” he recalled. “Last year at home I was runner-up in the Irish and MX Nationals. The Irish went down to the last race between me and John (Meara). On the day John was better as he won the last race and lifted the title.

“This year I am planning to go one better in both. With a lot more top riders and young ones coming through in the MX1 class it’s not going to be easy but I’m up for it!”

Lisburn’s Gary Moulds and passenger Lewis Gray got a race under their belt at last when they competed at Uphavon in Wiltshire at the first and possibly the last sidecar race in the UK for the immediate future. The team who have been having a nightmare preparing for the 2020 Grand Prix season with the Dutch championship cancelled and tracks closed all over Europe, it was a successful outing as they came away with two wins and a second place for the overall victory.

“We were second fastest in qualifying and in the opening race we were first in to turn one and over shot the corner,” said Moulds. “Brett Wilkinson took the lead and I just chased him home for second. I suffered badly with arm pump in that race but it was probably more to do with it being my first race of the year on hard pack.

“The rain came on for race two and turned the track in to a mud bath. I was third off the start but made my way through and in to the lead by lap three to win comfortably then in the final race I was caught sleeping while leading and was passed by another team before I woke up, retook the lead and pulled a huge gap by the flag.

“It was absolutely brilliant to at last get a race. We now wait to see what happens next with racing being cancelled left right and centre but we are all in the same boat and there is more important things than racing although you wouldn’t think it sometimes. Lets hope it goes away as fast as it first appeared.”

The opening round of the HTM Ulster Youth championship took place at a wet and windy Desertmartin with Dundonald schoolboy Reece Ross dominating in the 85cc B/W class. The 14-year-old Nendrum College pupil was in a class of his own as he rode his KTM to three convincing victories. The only other three-time winner was Niall Cregan from Donagcloney on the TM 250 in the Intermediate class. Nathan Green won the Premier class while Ben Egerton was the Automatic 50cc class winner. Benas Blazevicus was the 85cc S/W winner with Bobby Burns and Shane O’Neill sharing the cadet and junior cadet honours.