Cole McCullough enjoys 'happy' start to life with Italy's Dream Team Fantic squad

The Northern Ireland rider was competing recently in the opening two rounds of the Italian National Championship and came away with some excellent results.

Round one of the series took place at Mantova in northern Italy, where in atrocious conditions the Castlederg teenager qualified fourth fastest before finishing fifth in race one.

Unfortunately, he was forced to retire on the second lap of race two due to a small technical issue with the bike.

The action moved to Montevarchi in the Tuscany region for round two.

Track conditions were poor last Saturday due to the recent heavy rain but the weather improved across the Sunday schedule.

McCullough, who was making his debut at the technical Italian track, qualified the Dream Team Fantic eighth quickest.

In his opening race, the gates did not drop and quite a number of riders hit the gate. The race was not red-flagged and the Ulster rider had to come from dead last before battling his way into sixth place by the chequered flag.

In race two, he made a better start with sixth off the gate and made one pass before the finish for fifth, giving him fifth overall on the day.

“I was happy with my performance and the Fantic bikes were excellent,” said McCullough. “Race one was hard work, however, I was happy with a top-six finish and in my second moto I finished within a couple of seconds of the battle for fourth.

"All the hard work in pre-season training and winter prep paid off and I now head to Holland for the Dutch International at Lierop.”