Highs and lows for Jason Meara and Martin Barr at penultimate round of British Championship at Hawkstone Park
Jason Meara and Martin Barr had their fair share of highs and lows in the MX1 class as Hawkstone Park hosted the penultimate rounds of the combined Dirt Store British Championship and Motul Fastest 40 British Championship.
Meara, who competed in the EMX open class at Lommel, Belgium the previous week, where he finished in the points, was immediately on the pace in qualifying at Hawkstone, setting the fifth fastest time on the Moto-Cycle GasGas.
However, in race one he was down in tenth as he struggled off the gate.
“I couldn’t make passes for love nor money,” said the Loughbrickland rider. “I made it up to ninth before tipping over and dropping back to tenth.”
Race two saw Meara make a better start, pushing his way into fourth. He dropped to sixth at the midway point of the race and that’s where he finished to claim ninth overall.
“I finished relatively strong so it wasn’t the worst weekend,” Meara said. “My race one result let me down for the overall.”
It was a difficult day for Ballyclare’s Martin Barr on the Apico Honda, who qualified ninth fastest and made a decent start in race one, working his way into sixth before the breather pipe split, spraying fuel everywhere.
“It was spraying into my face and unfortunately I swallowed some,” said Barr, who finished ninth. “I crashed whilst trying to be sick and it really was a struggle trying to finish the race.”
Barr felt ill between races and despite suffering from a bad headache, he went out in race two to finish 10th to secure 10th overall.
“It hurts as I was third in both championships before the weekend and have dropped to sixth in the DirtStore British championship and fourth in the Motul British championship,” Barr said.
"We will regroup and try and get the points back in the final races. It’s motocross so anything is possible.”
Dubliner Stuart Edmonds finished 14th overall with Seaforde’s Nathan Green in 24th.
In the MX2 class Glenn Mccormick finished 13th overall on the Chambers KTM.
After being caught in a first lap pile-up he finished 15th when the race was red-flagged after 20 minutes. Race two saw him cross the line in 13th after he was involved in a six-way battle for eighth.
Loughbrickland’s Jack Meara finished second overall in the 250 Youth British championship.
The Moto-Cycle GasGas rider had to fight hard for a fourth place in race one after a bad start.
However, he regrouped in races two and three and with better starts he finished second in both.
Meara said: “It was a good weekend and I was pleased with second overall, on a very tough track.”
In the 125 class Omagh’s Lewis Spratt finished both races in 11th and remains fifth in the championship.
Meanwhile, the two-day Ulster and Irish Championship sidecar and quad meeting saw all of the Team Ireland riders who will compete in the Czech Republic at the ‘Nations’ race on track for the first time at the spectacular Magilligan Motocross Park.
Lisburn’s Neill Campbell was unbeaten in the sidecar class. His regular passenger Ross Graham was in the chair on Saturday and on Sunday Adam McKibbin stepped in as Graham was unavailable.
Jonny Wilson and Andrew Rowan claimed four second places and a third over the two days for a double second overall.
The third ‘Nations’ team of Gary Moulds and Paul Horton finished second in race one on the Saturday but unfortunately Moulds suffered an injury and decided to call it a day. He is confident he will be fit for the Czech Republic.
In the premier quad class Banbridge rider David Cowan still leads both the Ulster and Irish championships, despite a crash in Sunday’s final Irish championship race. Kyle Murphy took the overall.
Mark McLernon only raced on Saturday, claiming a win and a second place while Paul Edgar was second overall.