Featured Image Above: Lewis Andrews
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It’s hard to believe we’ve reached this time in the motocross season. It only feels like yesterday we were slapping through the gutters at Desertmartin for Round 1. Who could forget that day?! And now here we are with the final round of the club championship completed.
Seaforde Motocross Track played host to the final round and it didn’t disappoint. The weather was great, the sun even made an appearance towards the end of the day. We couldn’t have asked for any better. Throughout the week a perfect amount of rain fell which kept dust levels to a minimum until the final races of the day.
For most riders it was their last chance to secure their overall position in the championship, so it was an all or nothing kind of race day. Everyone gave it their all and it was a great days racing across the classes.
First race of the day was the Autos. The top three runners in this class give it their all to maintain their championship spots. It was young Kyle Graham who took fastest lap in race 1 with an impressive lap time of 1:14.76. The battle was on between Hayden Gibson, Graham and Ryan Jackson. Gibson managed to secure first position in race one with a seven second lead, followed by Graham and six seconds later Jackson. Race 2 finished the same as race one, but in race three Jackson took home second position followed by Graham third to round out the top three. All three boys were on fire on Saturday and fought hard every race. Overall results for the day were Hayden Gibson first, Kyle Graham second, Ryan Jackson third and Ethan Gawley fourth.
A special mention must go to young Teddi who rode his first race ever on his PW and made it the whole way round the track without a bother. He kept the power on and flew up and down the hills without a second thought. Very well done Teddi.
It was a brilliant day for Lewis Spratt who took home the victory in all three races. Race one Spratt was on fire and took the win by an impressive 12 seconds. The battle for second was on between Josh Hamilton and Micheal McCullagh but it was Hamilton who got it with only one second to spare.
Race two again Spratt was out in the lead but this time it was Ben McConville who took a comfortable second followed by Nathan Donnelly to round out the top three. Last race McConville closed the gap and pasted the chequered flag 4.8 seconds after Spratt. 18 seconds later McCullagh flew past taking third position. Overall results for the day first Lewis Spratt, second Ben McConville, third Micheal McCullagh and fourth Josh Hamilton.
Next up was the BWs & SWs. Lennox Dickinson had the fastest lap in race one for the SW’s an impressive four seconds ahead of the others. He also took the win in race one with a massive lead of 26 seconds. Ross Martin past the chequered flag second followed by Ryan Lowes 28 seconds later.
Race two was won again by Dickinson but the battle for second position was between Martin and Cameron Hanlon. With only one second to spare it was Martin who took second with Hanlon taking third. It was a clean sweep for Dickinson taking away three wins, Martin had three seconds and last race it was Ronan Cope who rounded out the top three. Overall standings for the day were Lennox Dickinson first, Ross Martin second, Ryan Lowes third and Ronan Cope fourth.
Matthew Beattie rode a brilliant first race and virtually matched the same fastest lap time as the top C men. He took the win by a very comfortable 23 seconds, second BW past the chequered flag was Tony McCann followed by Calum Moore 16 seconds later.
Race two Beattie lengthened the lead and flew past the chequered flag with 29 seconds to spare. Again, Tony McCann took a comfortable second position and Calum Moore third. This time race three it was Calum Moore out in front closely followed by Cathal Duffy in second place and rounding out the top three was Callum Clint. Overall results for the day were Matthew Beattie first, Calum Moore second, Tony McCann third and Cathal Duffy fourth.
Next up was the Seniors. It was an impressive days racing from Niall Cregan who had a clean sweep of wins with 11-13 second gaps between him and second positions in each race and even managed to do a better fastest lap in race one than the A men. Ruairi Deegan also had a great day coming home a very comfortable second in all three races. In race one it was Kyle Martin who took third position. Race two and three Jay Sherry rounded out the top three for the seniors.
The biggest class every week is the C men. There’s never a week goes by where the gates aren’t full. In race one the battle was on between Cori Dillon and Colin Ross. With only one second to spare Dillon passed the chequered flag first followed by Ross second and eight seconds later Jordan McMullan flew past rounding out the top three. This time it was Jeff Rainey battling with Dillon for the win but Dillon took the win by a miniscule 0.65 seconds. Rainey took second and Ross took third.
Rainey wasn’t letting the chance of a win go past. He rode hard and it paid off when he won the final race by a comfortable nine seconds. That left Ross and Paddy McMullan to battle it out for second and third. With only 0.9 seconds to spare Ross passed the chequered flag first giving him a second and Ross a third.
Race one in grade B was won by Stephen Gabbey closely followed 4.9 seconds later by Connor Connolly. It was Connolly who took the fastest lap. Dylan McCaughey rounded out top three in race one. This time it was David Kane who was out in front in race two and passed the chequered flag first with 10 seconds to spare. Gabbey and Sam Beattie were putting each other under a bit of pressure for second position but unfortunately for Beattie it was Gabbey who took second with less than two seconds to spare. Race three again Kane took the win but Gabbey was hot on his heels and came home 1.75 seconds later followed by Dylan McCaughey third.
Last but not least A1 & A2 were out together. In A1 the race was on between Phil Harris and Ricky Portis. Harris took the win in all three races with very comfortable leads of 46 seconds, 55 seconds and 1:22 on Portis. A2 Ben Kennedy took the win in race one with a 26 second lead on Aaron Wilson followed by Macauley Andrews third. Race two again Kennedy took the win and fastest lap but Wilson showed great determination and closed the gap by half and managed to keep his second position and Andrews again past the chequered flag third. Race three was the last race of the day and Ben Kennedy made the win look all too easy. Macauley Andrews ended the last race of the club championship with a second.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who came week in week out to support us in the club championship. It was lovely to see some old faces on Saturday as well. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did. It was a great year weather wise for us with only one cancelled race day and we managed to get eight rounds of the championship.
Thank you to all our flag marshals who helped us throughout the year, we couldn’t have done it without you all volunteering. Thank you to the medical team who provide us with first class medical treatment every week. Thank you to the Raineys for the catering and keeping our energy levels up on race days. Thank you to the committee and all who work behind the scenes to make the race days happen and make sure everything runs smoothly so you all can have an enjoyable days riding. And thank you to each and every one of you that race with us and make our club a success. We couldn’t do it without you all.
We would like to wish all our injured riders a speedy recovery and hope to see you all back fighting fit soon.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the next few weeks for all updates on the Barley Stubble Championship!
Words by Cathy Graham
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