After Round Six of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland both Kristian Whatley and Elliott Banks-Browne retained their red plates and that was despite neither having the best of days.
The Desertmartin circuit was excellently prepared but the wet weather made for a gnarly track with a few of the riders taking to Twitter to vent their disappointment.
Whatley commented on Twitter: “Two big crashes yesterday and I can tell you that I’m defiantly feeling it this morning. #not #nice #getting #old This never use to happen”
Steven Lenoir, who would finish 6-6-7 and seventh overall replied back to Whatley: track was so sh*t also!
Even though the weather was not ideal, the fanatical Irish fans were treated to their home riders fighting for podium positions as the day progressed.
In a dramatic last-lap manoeuvre Dirt Bike Rider’s popular columnist, Bryan MacKenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki) snatched overall victory in MX2. MacKenzie was leading the final moto before a fall but a strong push meant a 3-1-3 finish and his first visit to the top step of the podium, pushing local hero, VMX Moto.com-Nutt Travel KTM ‘s Martin Barr into second place with 2-5-1 finishes.
Putoline Honda’s Neville Bradshaw finished the day with a 4-2-4 and according to his Twitter feed he appeared to be pleased with his improvement on sand. Bradshaw’s third overall has slightly closed the gap on series leader Banks-Browne who recovered from a poor first race tenth to retain the red plate by 36 points with two rounds to go.
There was more drama in MX1 as series leader Kristian Whatley made a disastrous start in the opening moto and had to fight from outside the top 20 to eventually finish fourth after some of his rivals suffered some mechanical failures.
A seventh place finish in the second moto put the MBO Sport Yamaha rider under pressure but in drier conditions he came strong in the final moto to lead for most of the race before the in-form Matiss Karro (Team STR KTM) took the lead and a clean sweep with three big wins.
Route 77 MVr-D Honda’s Tanel Leok – who was riding with a plate in his collar bone from the previous round – took second with 2-3-3 finishes to keep his championship hopes alive.
The Desertmartin event was also the final round of the MXY2 championship. Going into the round as championship leader, Robert Davidson saw his advantage disappear in the opening moto after he posted a fifth place finish. This allowed race winner Brad Todd into the lead with one moto remaining.
However, Todd failed to score in the second moto and a second place finish for Davidson was enough to give him the gold plate, much to his delight.
To the great satisfaction of the local fans, it was Glenn McCormick who stood on the top step of the podium to take the overall on the day with 3-1 finishes.
Round seven of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship will be at Hawkstone Park on August 10. See you there.
