Finger injury but Seaforde's Nathan Green enjoys Tandragee clean sweep
Seaforde’s Nathan Green, despite snapping the little finger on his left hand in the second lap of practice when he clipped a barrel, enjoyed a clean sweep across Tandragee MX Park’s Expert MX1 class.
Victories in the opening two races were comfortable, as the GOMX Yamaha competitor took the chequered flag more than 18 seconds clear of championship rival Niall Cregan, with Ballymoney’s Jordan McCaw third on his GasGas.
It was a different story in race three of the Plews Irish Motocross Championship meeting hosted by the North Armagh Club, as Donaghcloney’s Cregan claimed the holeshot and led the opening six laps, albeit with Green snapping at his rear wheel. However, Green made the most of the backmarkers to dive past Cregan’s Kawasaki at the tight right-hander at the bottom of the hill and take victory by nearly seven seconds, with McCaw third.
“I caught Niall at the bottom of the hill and, although it was a hard pass, I tried to make it as clean as possible,” said Green. “It was a good day’s racing, and I closed the gap in the championship, but it wasn’t comfortable with the injury.”
Cregan added: “I made a mistake with the backmarkers and it worked out better for Nathan...it was that simple. It (wrist injury) hurts when I’m riding, but I just have to get on with it, all-in-all it was a good day so I can’t complain.”
Green and Cregan sit level on Championship points going into the final round at Saul in September.
It was an unbeaten weekend for Omaha’s Lewis Spratt on his new KTM after switching from Yamaha at the start of the week.
On Saturday, in the 250 Irish Youth class, he claimed three wins to close the gap to championship leader Noah Annett to just one point with one round remaining.
On Sunday, there was no stopping Spratt, who added another three victories in the MX2 Pro class. Gabriels Golturenko finished second overall, with Alfie Herron third.
“I’m delighted,” smiled Spratt. “Six from six on a new bike that we never put a spanner on all weekend.”
Stephen Baillie won the MX1 B overall with Robert Sweeney claiming the MX2 B honours. Luke Flynn, Stephen Edgar and Anthony Lyle shared the wins in the MX1 Club races, with Lyle claiming the overall.
Two wins and a second place saw Bradley Walker claim the MX2 Club class overall ahead of Jack Grills and Paul Gray. Championship leader Ned McFarland made up for a DNF in race one to finish second in race two and win race three, finishing fifth overall.
David Tutty was unbeaten in the Vets class. Castlewellan teenager Alfie Herron wrapped up the Irish 125 Youth Championship on Saturday with two wins and a second place, before finishing third overall in Sunday’s MX2 class, where he still leads the championship.
“It was good to win the title on Saturday,” said Herron. “Although I qualified fastest in the MX2 in the wet on Sunday morning, when the track dried, the TM 125 struggled up the hills against the 450s.”
Elliot Lynd, Brendan McAreavey, Logan Nicholl, Daniel Devine and Bradley Thompson were all winners of their respective Youth classes.
This Saturday, the Knock Club will host the Billy Hutton Memorial Trophy motocross at the Bells Hill MX track.