Bike trouble but Cole McCullough 'fired back into life' on way to strong Spain display

After persistent rain the week leading up to the Cozar event, the track was in a treacherous condition for qualifying.

However, in the deep mud McCullough qualified the Italian Dream Team Fantic racing team’s 125 as fourth fastest.

In his opening race on Saturday, McCullough made a good start by just outside the top 10 before the bike stopped on the opening lap.

“I thought my race was over but, after desperately trying to restart it, thankfully, it fired back into life,” said McCullough.”

He made a fantastic comeback from 40th through to 15th by the chequered flag.

With the rain still falling overnight, conditions were worse for race two on Sunday.

McCullough again made a decent start, lying 14th on the opening lap before battling his way into fourth by the mid-way point of the race then a small mistake dropped him to sixth by the finish.

“I’m happy with how the opening round went, leaving with 21 points in the bag and 10th place in the championship,” he said. “It’s a good start as we head to France this weekend for round two at St Jean de’Angley.”

Motocross made a welcome return to Desertmartin MX track for the first time since 2019 when the Cookstown club hosted the opening round of the Pavers Cave Ulster Youth MX Championship in a 160-strong rider field.

In the 250 Premier class, Loughbrickland’s Jack Meara finished the day unbeaten on the Moto-Cycle GasGas.

In his opening race he took the lead early on and finished over four seconds clear of his nearest rival, Ballyclare’s Charley Irwin, on the Discount Beds Honda - with Andy Garvey third.

Meara and Irwin had a great scrap in race two before Meara hit the front on lap seven to finish 1.839s clear at the chequered flag. Shea McDermott claimed third this time.

With the track cutting up for the final race, Meara dominated in the rough conditions - winning from Irwin by over 13 seconds at the finish, with McDermott again third.

Bobby Burns won the opening two 125 races, however, it was James Egerton’s tally of three second places that gave him the overall as Burns finished 10th in race three.

In the opening B/W 85 race, Daniel Devine and John McCann had a coming together in the closing stages of the race as they battled for the lead.

With the race leaders out it was Hayden Gibson from Magherafelt who ran out the race winner and – with two second places behind Malachi Allen in race two and three - was the overall winner on the day.

Jamie Larkin was a convincing winner of the S/W 85 class on his 125 KTM, with Cole McAuley and Callum Bradley completing the rostrum.

Larne schoolboy Marc Bergin was in a class of his own as he dominated the Automatic class from Leo Taylor and Elliot Lynd.

Jake Sayers and Mason Sheilds were unbeaten in their respective Cadet 65 and Junior 65 classes.

This Saturday the Pavers Cave Ulster Youth MX Championship will run at St John’s Point, Killough.