With the rain staying at bay, weather conditions for the fifth round of the Southern Centre Motocross Championship in Dundalk Motopark proved to be almost perfect. A drying track provided some closely fought racing in all classes throughout the day.
First out of the gate was the Grade A MX1/MX2 class, which saw VMX KTM’s Mike Mahon take the win and overall on the day with teammate Stephen Mullally in second. TMC Honda`s Christy Harnett took home third spot with local man, Ryan Callaghan in fourth.
In Grade A MX2 Suzuki’s Jim O’Neill secured the win after battling through a wrist injury. O’Neill rode solid all day to stay ahead of young up and coming rider Jordan Keogh (Kawasaki) in second spot and Shane Mulligan (Kawasaki) taking the third step of the podium.
Next out was the Semi Expert MX1/MX2 With Dylan Nally (KTM) taking the top step in MX1 ahead of Roy Kennedy (Suzuki) and Sean Woods (Suzuki) in third.
In MX2 Stephen Kelly, Ryan Morten and Conor Marshall battled it out all day to finish in that order. Local rider Gary Marmion (Suzuki) had a tough day to come home a hard earned 7th.
CMX1 were next behind the gate. Paul Coaklay secured the overall with two wins and a 4th ahead of Andy Mc Kibbin in second and Luke Annett taking home third. Local men James Callaghan and Shane McGuinness fought hard to just miss out on the podium in 4th and 5th.
CMX2 finished off a great days racing and saw Mark O`Rourke take the overall and improve as the day went on. Stephen Tracey didn’t make it easy for him finishing in second and Jonathan Merriman coming home in third. Local men Marty Thornton and Colm Kirk battled it out to finish top ten in 7th and 9th.
Words: Ryan Callaghan