Relentless Suzuki MX rider Martin Barr stormed to a race one victory at round four of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship, held at Hawkstone Park in Shropshire at the weekend, ending the day in an impressive third overall and giving Barr his first British Championship victory of the season.
Barr, who started the day fifth quickest in qualifying, was in electric form in the first race. Despite not getting the holeshot and having to fight with eventual runner-up Scott Elderfield, the RM-Z250 rider came through to take the win by just under three seconds.
Barr commented, "It was a tough race and one of those wins you know you've earned. My start was good but not perfect, so I had to fight from the off. The RM-Z ran perfectly and so I was able to come back and challenge Elderfield strongly to take the win. Obviously I'm delighted to get my first win of the season and hope we can move up the standings now as the season moves on."
Race two would see the Irishman come home in a well-earned eighth place after he and Elderfield crashed on the opening lap and had to fight back.
In MX1, the Relentless team wouldn't enjoy the same celebrations after race one incidents saw Law and Columb finish in 15th and 16th positions respectively. Race two would see improvement and fortunes reversed as Columb came home in ninth and Law in 13th.
Team young gun Matt Burrows impressed yet again in the MXY2 class, storming to a second place finish in race one and looking to repeat his performance in the second, before a broken exhaust system forced him out of contention.
Team manager Rob Hooper commented, "A big congratulations must go to Martin this weekend. He rode incredibly well in the first race and reminded us all of what he is capabe of. Things didn't go to plan from the start, but he was consistent and fast and really rode hard for the win. His second race was clearly a little disappointing after the euphoria of race one, but with all things considered we can be happy to leave Hawkstone with a win and an overall podium result. MX1 clearly wasn't so good today for us, but we know where we need to improve and will work hard before the next round."
Results
MX1 Race 1: 1st Gareth Swanpoel, 2nd Billy Mackenzie, 3rd Brad Anderson, 4th James Noble, 5th Tom Church, 6th Jason Dougan, 7th Carl Nunn, 8th Bryan MacKenzie, 9th Alex Snow, 10th Mark Jones
MX1 Race 2: 1st Gareth Swanpoel, 2nd Brad Anderson, 3rd Carl Nunn, 4th James Noble, 5th Billy Mackenzie, 6th Bryan Mackenzie, 7th Kristian Whatley, 8th Jason Dougan, 9th Scott Columb, 10th Jamie Lewis.
MX1 Overall: 1st Gareth Swanpoel, 2nd Brad Anderson, 3rd Billy MacKenzie, 4th James Noble, 5th Carl Nunn, 6th Bryan MacKenzie, 7th Jason Dougan, 8th Alex Snow, 9th Mark Jones, 10th Kristian Whatley
MX2 Race 1: 1st Martin Barr, 2nd Scott Elderfield, 3rd Stephen Sword, 4th Jake Nicholls, 5th Neville Bradshaw, 6th Mel Pocock, 7th Shane Carless, 8th Graeme Irwin, 9th Alan Keet, 10th Wayne Smith
MX2 Race 2: 1st Stephen Sword, 2nd Neville Bradshaw, 3rd Mel Pocock, 4th Wayne Smith, 5th Shane Carless, 6th Scott Elderfield, 7th Graeme Irwin, 8th Martin Barr, 9th Alex Rockwell, 10th Richard Sandberg.
MX2 Overall: 1st Stephen Sword, 2nd Neville Bradshaw, 3rd Martin Barr, 4th Scott Elderfield, 5th Mel Pocock, 6th Shane Carless, 7th Wayne Smith, 8th Graeme Irwin, 9th Richard Sandberg, 10th Jake Nicholls.
Suzuki in 2009 - 100 Years of Innovation
Relentless Suzuki MX Partners: Relentless, Suzuki GB PLC, Apico, Castrol, Maxxis, Leo Vince, Pro Taper, Twin Air, Langcourt, DID, Gold Fren, Venhill, Polisport, NGK, Boyesen, K-Tech, Petersen Racing, Answer, Arai, Diadora, CTi, Pro Clean, HS Systems, Pump-X, Vans, Maximum Solutions, SB Windows, Graf-Fix, SFS, Rip'n'roll, Miro.
