Dean Dillon toasts dream maiden victory at Seaforde

Seaford MX Parc hosted round two of the Ulster quad championship and in a brilliant opening race 19-year-old Moira rider Dean Dillon claimed his first ever premier race win on the Walsh Honda.
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For Dean who only moved into the premier class in 2018, and became the youngest ever rider to represent Ireland at the Quadcross of Nations in Germany in 2019, it was a dream come true.

“It’s been a long time coming and I had got to the stage where I thought it was never going to happen,” he said.

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“I was under a lot of pressure from Mark (McLernon) for the first five laps then he made a slight mistake which gave me a bit of breathing room and all I had to do then was hit my marks every lap and cruise her home. I just can’t believe it.”

L/R Ross Dillon, Gary Dillon, Dean Dillon, Nigel Dillon and Leigh-Ann Dillon  pictured after Dean won his first premier quad race at SeafordeL/R Ross Dillon, Gary Dillon, Dean Dillon, Nigel Dillon and Leigh-Ann Dillon  pictured after Dean won his first premier quad race at Seaforde
L/R Ross Dillon, Gary Dillon, Dean Dillon, Nigel Dillon and Leigh-Ann Dillon pictured after Dean won his first premier quad race at Seaforde

Reigning champion Mark McLernon tried everything he knew to pass Dillon in the opening race but on the tight Seaford track the Hillsborough rider got it slightly wrong at the hairpin, caught a post and dropped to third behind Justin Reid.

With Dillon now en route to a well deserved victory McLernon eventually forced his way past Reid with a couple of laps remaining for second.

Race two saw McLernon lead gate to flag on the ‘Quad Bikes ‘r’ us Yamaha’ with Murry Graham and Justin Reid completing the rostrum positions.

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Dean Dillon, who was behind McClernon on lap one dropped to fourth by the flag.

Murry Graham led race three from the gate but spun his machine at the second corner and while Dillon went around the outside, McLernon dived up the inside and went from fourth to first.

It was McLernon’s second win of the day and enough to claim another overall victory before he travels to Gusses Gorse this weekend with the rest of our top quad racers for round five of the Nora MX championship.

Lisburn’s Jack Young was the semi-expert overall winner.

Neil Campbell and Ross Graham continued their domination of the sidecar class with three wins from three starts.

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They haven’t been beaten this season on home soil and after a great British championship performance the week previous where they finished third, in race two, no-one was going to stand in their way at Seaford.

“We felt good going into this round after a solid result in the British,” Neil said.

“Today was good bike time for our British championship campaign which continues at the end of the month. It would be great to see Gary Moulds and Lewis Gray back on track as it always makes for close competitive racing at home in particular.”

Jonathan Wilson and Andrew Rowan along with Dean Faulkner and Curtis Beck completed the top three in all the races.

Riley Quinn was the overall winner in the Auto class.

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Connor Bradley had to battle his way through from last to third in his opening 100cc youth race after crashing at the hairpin while leading. Two wins in the next two races was enough for the overall victory.

The latest round of the Revo British MX championship at Canada Heights saw Stuart Edmonds, Glenn McCormick and Richard McKeown in action in the premier MX1 class. After qualifying 13th on the Apico Husqvarna, Edmonds went on to finish ninth overall behind Yamaha’s Harri Kullas.

Edmonds said: “I had all sorts of issues and only managed two qualifying laps but pulled through to sixth in race one after struggling off the start.

“In race two I got caught behind a slower group at the start and when I got past them I battled through to tenth before a rear puncture dropped me to 12th.”

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Glenn McCormick finished 11th overall on the Chambers Husqvarna.

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