MOTORBIKES REVIEW: No luck for Barr or Irwin at Desertmartin

Local riders Martin Barr and Graeme Irwin both missed out on podium finishes at their home round of the Maxxis British Championship at Desertmartin.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Jun 2016, 09:00 BST
Updated 25th Aug 2016, 18:36 BST
Graeme Irwin flying high at Desertmartin. INLT 24-929-CONGraeme Irwin flying high at Desertmartin. INLT 24-929-CON
Graeme Irwin flying high at Desertmartin. INLT 24-929-CON

Despite being on pace from the word go, both had unfortunate crashes which ruled out the expected race wins.

Going into Desertmartin, Barr carried the coveted MX2 red plate and planned to leave with it still on the Buildbase Honda, but a heavy crash in race one put paid to all that and instead of celebrating on Sunday night he spent it in hospital. After remounting to finish seventh he bravely came out for race two but was in too much pain and was forced to withdraw.

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The doctor and his physio had a look at him after race one and did the best they could with his shoulder but the writing was on the wall for race two.

Martin Barr gave it his best shot at Desertmartin. INLT 24-930-CONMartin Barr gave it his best shot at Desertmartin. INLT 24-930-CON
Martin Barr gave it his best shot at Desertmartin. INLT 24-930-CON

“It’s been a very frustrating weekend and not how I had it planned but hopefully it’s nothing too serious. I’ve dropped to third in the championship but there’s still eight races to go and I want to come out swinging at the next round,” said Barr.

Adam Sterry won both MX2 races. Steven Clarke now goes back to the top of the championship, with Martin Barr 20 points behind in third.

His Buildbase Honda Racing team-mate Graeme Irwin also missed out on the podium after a crash in his opening MX1 race.

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Irwin topped MX1 qualification by almost half-a-second and he led the opening race until a crash just before half-distance resulted in broken handlebars and a DNF. “I was leading the race at half-distance when I came off the start/finish jump and caught the handlebars on a post and crashed. I got back up to rejoin the race when I found the bar had snapped. It was so disappointing as I had the race in the bag,” explained the Carrick man.

Martin Barr gave it his best shot at Desertmartin. INLT 24-930-CONMartin Barr gave it his best shot at Desertmartin. INLT 24-930-CON
Martin Barr gave it his best shot at Desertmartin. INLT 24-930-CON

In race two he finished second despite slipping off on the fourth lap. “I had a problem with my tear-offs at the start and made a small mistake on lap four when the front washed out and I slid off. I got back on and worked my way up to fourth and reeled in Jake Nicholls and Shaun Simpson for second. In the end it wasn’t too bad, but the damage was done in the first race.

“I qualified first and was really happy with my speed so that was a good start, it was just that one mistake in race one but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Irwin now lies fifth in the championship behind series leader Shaun Simpson.