Young hopefuls shine at opening round of Ulster Youth Motocross Championship at Desertmartin
The opening round of the Pavers Cave Ulster Youth Motocross Championship at Desertmartin produced some strong performances across all the classes.
Omagh teenager Lewis Spratt overcame bike issues in qualifying to claim the 250 Premier overall.
In race one, the Jet Products Yamaha rider was involved in a thrilling battle with Derry’s Bobby Burns, who led for half the race before Spratt, despite goggle problems, moved ahead.
Burns briefly retook the lead on lap seven, but Spratt struck back a lap later to win by just 0.369 seconds, with Tom Bishop third.
Spratt then dominated race two, leading from start to finish to win by over eight seconds from Burns, with Bishop again third. He completed the clean sweep in race three, finishing comfortably ahead of Burns and Bishop.
The following day Spratt raced at round one of the British Championship at Hawkstone Park, qualifying 15th and finishing 29th in the MX2 Pro class, while placing 13th in the Under-21 category.
Glenn McCormick finished 12th overall in the Pro MX2 class at Hawkstone Park on the Chambers KTM. The Glenoe rider qualified eighth fastest in his group but crashed on the opening lap of race one, forcing him to fight back to 14th. In race two, he again got a strong start, running fifth early on before finishing eighth.
“I was disappointed with race one, but race two was much better,” McCormick said. “All things considered, twelfth overall wasn’t too bad.”
Castlewellan’s Alfie Herron finished eighth overall in the 125 class thanks to an 11th in race one and eighth in race two.
In the 125 Intermediate class at Desermartin, Dungiven’s Micheal McCullagh who took the overall victory. The Yamaha rider finished third in his first two races before winning race three from race two winner Ollie Holland, who finished second overall, with Jamie McKee coming in third.
Daniel Devine was outstanding on the Arlene’s Mace Newmills Gas Gas 85 in the B/W85 class. The Tyrone schoolboy qualified fastest before winning all three races against James McCann for the overall, with Daniel McGovern finishing third.
In the S/W 85 class, Caleb Duffy from Dungiven ended the day unbeaten with three victories.
Mason Shields opened his account in the Junior 65 class at Desertmartin with a gate-to-flag win on his KTM. The Lurgan schoolboy had to wait until the final lap of race two to get the better of race-long leader Jake Sayers.
Race three was a repeat of race one, with Shields completing his treble with a convincing win over Brendan McAreavey. The overall podium saw Shields on the top step, with Sayers second and McAreavey third.
The 65 Cadet class belonged to Ballymena’s Hudson Smyth, who claomed the overall from Elliot Lynd and Liam Devlin.
The youngest riders of the day lined up for the Automatic races, and it was Carrickfergus boy Leo Taylor who came out top with two wins and a second place for the overall.
Randalstown’s Tony McCann wrapped up the Adult Support with two wins and a second-place finish.