Lewis Spratt celebrates maiden Arenacross victory after 1000-mile round trip on gruelling weekend

It was worth the effort as Spratt celebrated his first Arenacross win and finished second in the championship.

At Hawkstone he went on to claim his first podium finish in the EMX 125 class.

Spratt said: “I qualified third fastest but unfortunately after a good start in race one I collided with another rider and had to settle for sixth by the chequered flag.

"I didn’t make the best of starts in race two but I got my head down and made some good passes to move into second. I took the lead on lap five after Joshua Fletcher cracked under pressure. When I hit the front I pulled a gap and played it safe to the finish.

"Since I started racing the Arenacross I always wanted a win and when I took the chequered flag in London for my first win I was over the moon. I didn’t have much time to celebrate as we had to travel through the night for the Hawkstone International.”

After four hours sleep Spratt was back in action again. He qualified seventh fastest and hole-shotted race one, holding seventh at the halfway stage before dropping to 11th by the flag.

He finished fifth in race two and in his final outing he brought the Todds Leap McCullagh’s Centra KTM home in seventh for fifth overall.

Spratt added: “I was delighted to take my place on the podium alongside some of Europe’s top EMX 125 riders.”

Castlederg’s Cole McCullough continued his great early season form qualifying second fastest on the Woodside Logistics Group/Maddii Fantic by Milwaukee Racing machine.

In his opening race he was third off the gate and led the race from Turn 2 to the chequered flag.

Another great start in race two saw McCullough leading again from the second corner. He increased his lead to over 11 seconds with three laps to go before the chain snapped upon landing from a jump.

“I was really annoyed with the DNF but after a chat with dad I was ready to go again for my final race,” said McCullough.

He led by ten seconds at the halfway stage before his race ended after a massive crash when the bike slammed him into the face of a jump.

Thankfully the 15-year-old suffered no major injuries and hopes to travel to the Netherlands this weekend for the Dutch International meeting at Lierop.

Meanwhile, Ballyclare’s Martin Barr was happy with his race debut on the Apico Honda.

With a grid packed with Grand Prix riders Barr was unfortunate to get caught up in a four-bike pile-up on the opening lap of race one, finishing a disappointing 20th.

Race two saw the local man take the chequered flag in 11th before finishing 15th overall in the MXGP Superfinal.

“For the first race of the season I was happy enough,” said Barr. “There were lots of positives and little things to build on before the first round of the Fastest 40 Championship in a few weeks’ time.”

In the MX2 class Glenoe’s Glenn McCormick finished eighth in the MXGP/MX2 Superfinal on the Chambers KTM.

In his first MX2 race he finished 14th before taking ninth in race two on the tough Hawkstone track.

“I was a bit tense in my opening race but as the day went on I relaxed and rode a lot better,” McCormick said. “Now I am looking forward to the first round of the Nora championship in March.”

Coleraine rider Lennox Dickinson finished 11th MX2 in the Superfinal after claiming 20th in race one and 12th in race two.