Graeme Irwin - British MX1 Champion
By Team TMX on 2nd Aug 17
British Motocross Championship Graeme Irwin
Buildbase Hondas Graeme Irwin claimed the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship MX1 title on Sunday with a dominant double win at Preston Docks.
The 24-year-old from Carrickfergus clinched the crown in the second moto with his eighth consecutive race win after resisting pressure from EWC contender Nathan Watson, who was racing as a wildcard.
"It's awesome, fantastic, amazing," he said. "I can't believe it. This year just everything's clicked.
"The team, the bike, everything. I've been given the tools to do the job and I can't thank everybody enough.
"My wife, my whole family, the team, all my sponsors - it's amazing.
"We've won eight races in a row now which is some serious momentum.
"In that last race today I was like 'should I think of the championship and let Nathan Watson by' but I just couldn't have anybody talking about an enduro rider coming to the British championship and winning so I put my head down."
The only low-point in Graeme's season came at round three at Canada Heights when a sticking throttle left him off the podium for the first and only time this season.
"Canada Heights was the only issue we've had all year," he added.
"We just didn't get the roll of the dice there - the first race got stopped early and we had a small problem in race two and that was the only blip of the season."
Team boss Dave Thorpe, who's won his fair share of British titles, paid tribute to his rider and the men behind him.
"It's been a great day for Graeme and he thoroughly deserved it," said Dave. "He's ridden like a champion all year and pushed when he could and been clever when he couldn't. The last four British championship rounds he's been outstanding and we're really pleased for him.
"The whole team are a great bunch of lads who work really hard together. At the end of the day we're just a small team from Devon but we've got a fantastic product in the CRF450, a great engine tuner in Ryan, a great rider in Graeme and some super mechanics in Rob and Willy."
The only downside of the day for the team came in MX2 where Martin Barr, second in the championship heading into Preston, was finally forced to admit defeat.
"It's been a pretty frustrating day really," said Martin.
"It's tough knowing I can do a lot better but it is what it is. I got third overall which is okay but I just have to get on with it. There's one round left so I'll keep fighting and try and make sure I get second in the championship.
"Congratulations to Ben - he won the championship so hats off to him."
