Disaster for Martin Barr at Maxxis opener
By Team TMX on 4th Apr 18
British Motocross Championship Martin Barr Culham
REVO Husqvarnas Mel Pocock kicked off his Maxxis campaign with third overall at Culham matching his finish at the EMX250 opener at Redsand in Spain seven days earlier but his team-mate Martin Barr had a much tougher time.
The veteran from Northern Ireland, who also won a race in Spain, crashed heavily in qualification and after grinding out a seventh-placed finish in the opening moto was forced to withdrawn from race two following two crashes on the first lap.
In quali I got one lap in and then hit a big, soft hole flat-out it was like hitting a brick wall which stopped me dead and I went over the bars, he said. I caught my leg on the way over and bent my thumb.
I wasnt sure whether I was going to go out for the first race or not but you have to dig deep and give it a go and I rode a steady race to bring it home in seventh. I got a pretty bad start in race two and went down in the second corner. I was coming back through the pack when a guy cross-rutted and just completely t-boned me.
Its been a disaster of a day but its a long season so Ill go home, get healed up and live to fight another day.
In contrast, Mel fought his way to third in the opening race and this coupled with fourth in the second moto earned him a slice of his favourite podium pie.
The first round of the British championship is always the most hectic, said the rapid redhead. I know there was a lot of stick about the track but Im really glad they ran it it was super-technical and so good for racing.
The first race I had a good start but unfortunately slipped off and dropped back to about sixth but pushed back to third which was a solid, strong ride in the deep ruts. In the second I didnt have an amazing start and rode tense if Im honest.
I didnt ride to the best of my ability for about 10 to 15 minutes and only really loosened up in the last part of the race but Ill take third overall.
Dylan Woodcock, the third member of the team, qualified sixth but struggled to 20th in race one before exiting race two with a technical problem.
Coming off the back of two excellent EMX250 race wins in Spain we were on a bit of a high, said team boss Mark Yates, but we all appreciate that every weekend cant be like that and Martin getting injured in qualifying is a blow.
Mels still riding a bit tense even after the confidence booster in Spain and after third in the first race he struggled a little in the second but he managed to maintain fourth for third overall.
Dylans struggled today and unfortunately in the second race he had a throttle position sensor issue which caused his bike to cut out but I was very pleased with his speed in qualifying so hes moving in the right direction.
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