Ulster clean sweep for Mark McLernon at Knock meeting
It was a cold blustery start to the 2025 Ulster Quad and Sidecar Championship, hosted by the Knock club, at St John’s Point.
Hillsborough’s Mark McLernon had problems in practice with the transponder on his Yamaha, leaving him in the worst gate position.
McLernon, who will contest the European Championship in 2025, used all his experience to make brilliant starts over three races, finishing unbeaten in the Premier Quad class.
In the opening race, Coleraine’s Travis Toye claimed the hole shot, however, it wasn’t long before Kyle Murphy took over at the front followed by McLernon.
In the end, McLernon claimed the win after a great pass on the final lap.
“It was a good race and I only got past Kyle a couple of corners from the flag,” said McLernon.
It was a gate-to-flag win in race two but it was Paul Edgar who kept McLernon honest in race three as he won by 1.488s with Justin Reid claiming his second third place.
Toye went on to win all three Semi-Expert class races, with Dean Young and Tomas McNulty completing the top three.
In the Sidecar class, the Temple crew of Andy and Adam McKibbin finished the day with three wins, for their first-ever Ulster overall.
“It was great to ride a new track and to come away with our first overall was special,” said Andy.
Kevin Lynch claimed two victories and a second place behind Matthew Wilson in race three for the overall in the Clubman class while Evie Travers was unbeaten in the Y1 class and John Joe Malone had his Y2 clean sweep.
Joe McVey and Adam Gibson had a great scrap in the Y3 but it was McVey who ran out the overall winner despite Gibson getting the better of his rival in race three.
Glenn McCormick was the top local finisher at the opening round of the Motul British MX Championship at Hawkstone Park.
The Glenoe rider claimed seventh overall in the MX2 class on the Chambers KTM.
With 60 riders lining up for 40 gate places, McCormick qualified sixth fastest.
Race one saw him finish seventh followed by eighth in race two.
“In race one I just pipped my team-mate Ollie Colmer for seventh, then in race two I was running with the leaders in the early stages before dropping back to eighth,” said McCormick.
Lennox Dickinson qualified ninth before claiming ninth in MX2 under 21.
In the MX1 class, Jason Meara and Martin Barr had their fair share of ups and downs. Meara, on the Moto-Cylce GasGas, had a terrible qualifying due to bike issues, ending up 16th.
In race one, a good start saw him sixth before dropping to eighth by the flag then he worked his way into the top eight before finishing 10th for ninth overall.
Barr qualified the Apico Honda sixth fastest and was running inside the top 10 in race one before suffering a massive crash at the famous bomb hole area of the track. He was fortunate to avoid serious injury, coming away with superficial cuts and a bloody nose, before seventh in race two.
Omagh’s Lewis Spratt finished 10th overall in the 125 class.