Ballyclare's Martin Barr reflects on 'emotional day' as he brings the curtain down on his final race as a professional rider
Ballyclare’s Martin Barr had his final British Championship race as a professional rider on the Apico Honda at Lyng in Norfolk during round eight of the MX1 Motul MXGB.
It marked twenty-one years at the top of the sport for the local rider.
Barr wrapped up his season, finishing ninth in the championship after ending twelfth overall at Lyng.
“I wasn’t expecting much before the meeting, as it is only three weeks post-op from breaking my leg,” he added.
"To even be back on a bike, never mind racing at a British Championship, is an achievement, but I wanted to do this meeting to say a final farewell to the team.
"I didn’t want to push too hard on a track with big drop-offs and risk aggravating my injury only weeks before the ‘Nations’ in America. I only rode at eighty per cent, but overall, I enjoyed it.
"It was an emotional day, to put it mildly. Finishing ninth in the championship after five DNFs over the season, I suppose, wasn’t too bad. That’s it all done and dusted, with one more race to go in America.”
However, he was quick to point out that he hasn’t given up racing completely.
“I will still do some racing, but I don’t know what yet,” he explained. “After twenty-one years in the British Championship, I can’t complain as I’m able to retire on my terms, which is a nice way to call it a day.”
Glenoe’s Glenn McCormick and Coleraine’s Lennox Dickinson put in great performances in the MX2 class.
It was McCormick’s best result of the year on the Chambers KTM, finishing fourth in race one, after qualifying tenth fastest.
“A great start in race one saw me sixth off the gate, and on the opening lap I fought through to fourth,” McCormick said.
"It was a tough race, but I was happy with the result, my best of the season.”
A massive crash on the opening lap of race two saw McCormick dead last before eventually finishing thirteenth.
“It was my biggest crash for a long time,” he reflected. “It was disappointing to miss out on a potential podium, but I was happy to finish fifth in the Championship.”
Dickinson finished fourth in the MX2 Under-21 class at Lyng. He finished eleventh overall on the WORX Scaffolding Triumph after claiming fifteenth in race one and ninth in race two.
He stated: “I felt good in the qualifying, on what is a standard bike, setting the twelfth fastest time, my best of the season.
“In the opening race, I was hit by another rider and dropped to last before fighting through to fifteenth. Then, in race two, I made a decent start, lying eighth for most of the race, before Josh Vail passed me four laps from the finish.”
Ballyclare’s Samuel Logan, Armagh’s Ollie Holland and Jack McGrath from Dungarvan, Co.Waterford, who all finished in the top three of their respective Ulster MX Championships, recently competed at the Yamaha YZ Blu Cru European Cup at Uddevalla, Sweden.
Yamaha’s Blu Cru programme is a platform to support the next generation of young riding talent in a professional environment to encourage and nurture tomorrow’s racing stars.
The event, to which the three local riders were invited, saw them race in front of Grand Prix stars, marking an experience they will never forget.
In years to come, even if they never reach the dizzy heights of GP MX racing, they can say that for at least one weekend in their young careers, they were treated like the GP stars they idolise.