Quads qualify
By TMX Archives on 30th Apr 08
THE second round of the ACU British MMX Quad Cross championship, held at a very demanding Desertmartin circuit on Saturday, included the first of the four-round Qualifier championship. A total of 31 riders have registered for this new ACU Quad Championship class and you could sense the pressure on the riders to get top positions. This short championship will determine which riders will qualify through to the 2009 main MMX series.
Michael Nash got the holeshot in race one on Val Bell's JMK Suzuki 450 but, as the pack entered the sweeping right hand first turn, a mass of riders collided. The rest of the pack made their way over what was the first of many big jumps positioned around the Ulster circuit.
Cathal McGilligan soon took up the lead on his Suzuki, followed closely by Sam Bryan and Jonny McKnight. As the first race progressed Michael Taggart made steady progress, stealing second from McKnight on the final lap.
Race two had a to be cut short at half distance due to Emma McQuaid suffering a nasty fall and needing medical attention. Prior to that, McGilligan had led from the start with Nash, Bryan and Connor Lynch all side-by-side on the first lap.
McGilligan took the win and currently sits at the top of the stack of registered riders who are all committed to contesting the entire four-round series.
Emma McQuaid was back on her feet after medical attention and so too was her brother Eugene after his nasty looking fall in race one. However, after returning home, Eugene was taken to hospital in discomfort with his back and, at the time of going to print, the hospital was still carrying out tests. Another rider who suffered a fall early on in practice was Tom Woolanin from Pontefract and his injuries were being treated. Again, the full picture is unclear at this time but we all wish both young riders well and a speedy recovery.
Round two will be hosted by the NETT Quad Club at Dean Moor, Cumbria, on July 13, alongside round five of the ACU MMX Quad championship. This event will also see round one of the new ACU Youth Quad championship.
Round three of the Qualifier will be run with round seven of the British Quad championship on August 31, and all the Quad championship final rounds take place at Culham, Oxfordshire, on September 20/21 with QRA and NORA-MX planning a grand finale.
A massive thank you to Quad Racing Ireland for all the hard work putting on a successful day's racing at Desertmartin.
QUAD QUALIFYING CHAMPS
Rd 1 – Desertmartin, nr Cookstown Northern Ireland (Quad Racing Ireland)
Overall: 1 Cathal McGilligan 25+25=50, 2 Michael Taggart 22+22=44, 3 Jonathan McKnight 20+18=38, 4 Sam Bryan 18+16=34, 5 Liam Cater 15+15=30, 6 Connor Lynch 6+20=26, 7 Geoff Ingram 13+12=25, 8 Aron Haslett 12+10=22, 9 Paul Broomhead 10+11=21, 10 Josh Barrett 11+6=17, 11 Sean McAneney 16+0=16, 12 Dean Thompson 0+14=14, 13 Emma McQuaid 14+0=14, 14 Alan Haugh 0+13=13, 15 Ryan Rodgers 4+9=13, 16 Geoff Sharp 7+5=12, 17 Richard Telford 8+2=10, 18 Joe Nutter 9+1=10, 19 Kristein Hiley 5+4=9, 20 Michael Nash 0+8=8, 21 Sam Harrison 4+4=8, 22 Ben Harman 0+7=7, 23 Tom Fletcher 2+0=2, 24 Raymond Walker 1+0=1.