Martin Barr forced himself to ride through the pain barrier after crashing early at Hawkstone Park in the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship on Sunday.
Barr had a tough time at the brutal Shropshire sand track after crashing in the first turn of race one and injuring his hand. All the way back in 32nd after the opening lap, he fought up to 12th before gritting his teeth for fifth in race two to take seventh on the day.
His struggles may have been felt more keenly with REVO Husqvarna UK teammate Mel Pocock continuing to fly out front, securing his second Maxxis MX2 overall victory on the bounce to close the gap to the series leader, Conrad Mewse, to just 15 points with the penultimate round coming up on September 23 at Foxhill.
Barr was left scratching his head for answers after struggling with his starts. “Itās frustrating,” exclaimed Barr. “Itās just one thing after another. I donāt know what it is ā I havenāt changed anything so itās a tough one.
“The day started off all right. I was happy enough with fourth in qualifying and in the first race I got a pretty decent start but the first corner was so soft and my front end dug in right behind someone and I went down and got ran over.
“My bike landed on top of me and burnt my arm and hit my hand hard. I was under it for a good 25 seconds so by the time I got up I was away dead last. Iām not one to give in and I just fought until the end and worked my way back up to 12th.
“I knew race two was going to be tough with the condition my body was in but I never gave up and eventually ended up fifth and I think I was the fastest rider on the track for the last 10 minutes. It was a very frustrating race because I couldnāt push the way I wanted to because I couldnāt hold on.”
Team Principal, Mark Yates: “Martinās struggled a bit today with his starts yet again which has impeded his performance. Heās had to work really hard to get the 12th in race one and fifth second time out.”
