Barr signs off with overall win at Foxhill
By Team TMX on 21st Sep 16
Buildbase Honda Racings Martin Barr ended the 2016 Maxxis British Motocross Championship on a high with the overall MX2 win at the eighth and final round of the series at Foxhill.
The Irishman ran 2-2 around the fast and spectacular former GP track to close to within nine points of championship bronze.
His team-mate Graeme Irwin, who spent Saturday in hospital with food poisoning, just missed the podium in MX1 on a tie-break after carding 3-4. He also ended the season in fourth.
"I got a decent start in the first race and came out of the opening turn in fifth or sixth and worked my way through to second,” said Barr. "I felt really good today and the bike was working absolutely fantastic. I got another okay start in race two and it was pretty much a repeat of the opener with me moving up to second and 2-2 was good enough to win first overall today.”
Graeme, who joins Martin on the Irish team in Italy for the MXoN, nearly didn't make it to the start gate after suffering agonising stomach cramps the previous day.
"I had really bad food poisoning on Friday night and was in hospital all day yesterday but managed to make it to the race today,” he said. "I was real happy to top qualification and it was great to lead the opening race for the first few laps.
"I was disappointed to miss the podium on a tie-break after finishing fourth in race two but my thumb was pretty painful over some of the bigger jumps so I'm not going to beat myself up over it too much. I felt like I had no energy and would love to see what I could have done if I'd been fit.”
With the domestic season over, team boss Dave Thorpe reflected on a 2016 campaign that's seen Barr and Irwin both win Pirelli British Masters and Michelin MX Nationals titles and finish fourth in the Maxxis championship.
"As a team we're absolutely chuffed to bits with Martin and Graeme,” he added. "They both finished fourth in the championship which isn't what we were hoping for but out of the three championships we've contested we've won two so we're more than happy.
"I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved with the team. Rob, Willie, Ryan, Nick – they've all been fantastic – and Ryan and Martin Barr Snr have done a great job on the engines.”
