After an explosive start to the domestic motocross scene with round one of the Retink Irish Championship, attention switches to the MRA Ulster Championships with a double header at Desertmartin over the busy Easter weekend, writes Malcolm Beattie.
Saturday, April 7th, sees the Ballymoney Club promote the opening round of the Quadcross, Sidecarcross, Under 21 and Veterans Championships at the Grand Prix circuit.
In the Ballymac Hotel Under 21 Championship excitement is building after last year produced the most exciting racing on the island.
Premier Class Champion Drew Goudy has moved out of the class as he is now 22, so the field is open for young chargers like Michael McCammond from Larne on the JAR Honda, John Meara from Loughbrickland on the TMC Honda, Glenoe teenager Glenn McCormick on the Agnew Recovery/Watt Kawasaki, Dromoras Ryan Adair on the Adair Electrics Suzuki, and numerous others eager to race.
Jordan Martin aims for Under 21 success on Saturday
Semi Expert Class is no less exciting with recent race winner Stuart Fee on his Fee Engineering KTM 125 two stroke doing a giant killing act at Downpatrick, can the Dromora schoolboy repeat this at Desertmartin. He will be up against Killyleaghs Jordan Martin and Larnes Conner Campbell on their Monster Energy Cosworth Yamahas, add in riders like Ben Mottram on the Agnew Recovery Yamaha, Mark Dougherty, Kilkeels Chris Cully and this promises to be the race of the day.
Clubman’s is wide open here with Jordan Wade having moved to semi expert class, but expect Scott Leaney to be at the sharp end along with Seteven Gill, Jordan Blakely and others.
This is the Premier Quads first competitive outing of the year, and the usual suspects of David Wray, Michael McAneny, Jonny Kelly, David Cowan,Sean Goss, Justin Reid etc. will have some new blood to worry about this year in the form of two teenagers new to the class. Magheralin man Alexander Thompson makes his adult debut in the MRA Championships after a few years successful campaigning in England where his finished runner up in his class, and Dean Colhoun moves up from Clubmans to make his Premier Class debut.
The Premier Class will be ably supported by the Clubmans Championship where, after promotions and with new riders, the Class is wide open for a new Champion, expect Shane Hunter, David Forsythe, & Matthew Davis to be in the mix for a win.
Glenn McCormick will be keen to get his championship off to a strong start
Sidecarcross reigning Champion, Lisburns Neil Campbell had a perfect season in 2011 running undefeated all season, however, third place man last year, 17 year old Gary Moulds, also from Lisburn, is armed with a new 450 cc engine after having to run a 250cc last year due to his age, should hopefully give Neil a run for his money this year, when you add in James Earney on his new 700cc Zabel two stroke machine, Ricky Portis and others, the revived sidecar class is looking more exciting by the day. The Sidecarcross Supporters Club remain the sponsors of this championship
In the Veterans Championship, the Premier Class runner up, Crossgars Alan Magee and Waringstowns Jonathan Fairley start as Championship favourites, but again, they face some new blood with the recently ‘qualified’ Ricky Watt on his KTM entering the fray, which should add to the interest.
Semi Expert Champion last year, Cliffy Bailey, will again start as favourite, but Newtownabbeys Joel Brown & Donegal man Ivan Kerr are also still there.
Clubmans turned out to be the most competitive veterans class in 20112, and returning Champion James McClements, stalwart of the Ballymoney Club, will be back to battle with Comber man Colin Burns, Ian Moore and all the regulars.
Racing starts at 11.00 and the famous track is between Desertmartin village and Draperstown, entry is £5.00 per adult, under 14’s free.
Malcolm Beattie
MRA Press Officer
Images: ©Alan Gardner