North Armagh Members In Action At Desertmartin Under 23, Veterans, Sidecacross Motocross Championships Round 1

At a very wet, cold and windy Desertmartin last Saturday, North Armagh Members once again performed well at the opening round of the Ulster Motocross Championship season.

After a long delay due to timing difficulties, racing got under way and the big upset of the day was the defeat, for the first time in three years at Championship level of our defending Sidcarcross Champions, Neil Campbell & Ross Graham, slightly tempering this news was the fact that it was a North Armagh Crew doing the defeating in Gary Moulds and Ben Alexander, well done to the two Lisburn teenagers, as they then added insult to injury by beating Neil & Ross in the third race too, coming away leading the Championship!!
As Neil & Ross will be keen to point out, its a long season ahead, and both crews will be taking in the first round of the British Motocross Championship in April at Milton Park, we wish them both well, and we’ll keep you up to date on their progress.

Third place nearly went to Emma Moulds and Niki Adair, but theyt were pipped by Ricky Portis and Rocket Roy Beattie, but mention should be made of the Wallace & Grommit of Sidecacross racing, Tony Willis and Ian Glenn who scored a creditable third in the last race, they even looked good in their matching gear, including helmets, breaking a long standing tradition of theirs of wearing gear manufactured in different decades at all times, the change must have helped, maybe they’ll even learn to tuck their shirt tails in soon!!

At the other end of the age scale, Alan Gardner and Matthew Ross made their Championship debut on the bug 500cc Honda EML, and finished all three races in very tough conditions, well done the teenagers, more speed will come.

Defending Veterans Premier Class Champion, Jonathan ‘The Champ’ Fairley was not on top form at Desertmartin, carrying three broken ribs, bruised thigh, and six weeks off the bike is not great preparation, but he manned up and collected much needed points in his Championship defence.

Missing was Clubman runner up from last year, Damien McGavigan, hopefully he’ll resurface for Easter, or at least the next round at Donemana.

With no Quad riders in the Club, attention then turned to the ever competitive Under 23 Class where Jason Meara from Loughbrickland fought manfully against the power of the 450’s at Desertmartin, posting a second a third and a fourth on the day, the highlight being a comeback from 19th on the first lap of the third race to finish third, 1 second behind Drew Goudy, a testament to the lads fitness and skill I believe.

Also in this class, Moiras Scott Hamilton rode well against the bigger bikes, finishing 6th, 7th and 10th.
The Club had no representation in the Semi Expert Class, but in Clubmans Class, Chris Simms from Magheralin won the 2nd & 3rd races and comes away leading the Clubmans Class!! Well done that man!!

Special mention must go to John Meara from Loughbrickland who competed at FatCats near Doncaster on Sunday in the MAXXIS British Championship, where riding a new standard machine, John qualified 34th, and finished 22nd and DNF on the day.

There will be a bigger representation from the Club at the first round of the Ulster Championships on Easter Monday, so see you all there.

Source: http://moto.mpora.com/race-reports/north-armagh-members-in-action-at-desertmartin-under-23-veterans-sidecacross-motocross-championships-round-1.html

Kevin Strijbos Bengt Åberg Greg Albertyn Jeff Alessi Mike Alessi