MOTOCROSS: Martin Barr in great form at Blaxhall

The local rider qualified second and finished third in race one followed by second in race two for the top step of the podium.

“Qualifying went well as I set the second fastest time, giving me a good gate pick for the races.

“ In race one I made a decent enough start running sixth on the opening lap. I made my way into third and closed on Josh Gilbert for second but I tucked the front and went down.

“I got going again and worked my way into fifth by the finish but at the end of the race I was awarded third as two riders in front of me disobeyed the yellow flags over the jumps and were penalised.

“In race two, again I made a good start and was lying second behind Conrad Mewes. I was able to close on him but in the end the backmarkers were a bit of a nightmare and I had to settle for second.

“Anyway a three, two was enough to give me the overall on the day.

“It was great to stand on the top step again for Revo Husqvarna.

“As far as the championship is concerned I am still fifth but have closed to only eight points off third and forty off the lead with still a lot of races to go. I head to Latvia this weekend for the EMX and I want to keep the ball rolling after a great weekend in Russia, and hold on to that red plate,” said Martin.

Things did not go to plan for Graeme Irwin on the Hitachi ASA KTM as disaster struck in the MX1 qualifying session.

After putting in only one fast lap, Irwin had a small tumble, trapping him under the right side of his bike. This left the Carrickfergus rider with a number of severe burns.

The ACU Doctors responded immediately and the defending champion requested the wounds be dressed in a way that he could be ready for the first moto. Instead of heading to hospital, Graeme gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain barrier to complete both races and still only just missed out on the overall podium, finishing fourth on the day with 32 championship points in the bag.

“Most of the day was ruined from that one thing. I’ve got four third degree burns on the top of my right arm and the right side of my back. It was a lot more painful that I thought it would be and because of that I just couldn’t relax.

“I had to stay in the zone to just be able to ride through the pain and it was hard to stay like that for two races, especially the first race. I had a really bad start, I lapped in fourteenth but managed to pull it back to fourth.

“The second one I didn’t have a bad start,

“I was in fifth. Monticelli went down and I got up to third. But from then on, I was just struggling; I ended up seventh in the race. It was tough, I gave it my all! I’m not saying it was the pain but that certainly didn’t help me ride faster, but my body was just saying ‘no’, it just wasn’t letting me push and that really sucked.

“Looking ahead I just want to turn this season around, I’ve fallen into a little bit of a rut and I’m not going in the direction I want to. I just need to keep working to turn it around, this championship is far from over. This has just been a bad day, but we will fix it!” Said Graeme.