MX Diary: Michelin MX Nationals heads to Pontrilas
By Sean Lawless on 4th May 16
The rescheduled second round of the Michelin MX Nationals takes place this weekend (May 7-8) at Pontrilas.
Buildbase Honda dominated the opening round at Preston Docks in early March with Graeme Irwin leading the MX1 class and Martin Barr on top in MX2.
Unsurprisingly, the pair are hoping for more of the same this time around with Irwin – who ran 1-2 in the North West – looking to extend his narrow two-point lead over Brad Anderson (Verde Racing KTM).
"It was a good weekend at Preston Docks for me and I'm really happy with the way I rode there,” said Irwin.
"It's good that the MX Nationals team managed to reschedule and relocate round two to Pontrilas and I am excited to go there with the red plate.”
Irwin's team-mate Kristian Whatley, now fully race fit and back up to his usual fast pace, will want to close the gap on the leading pair but Ashley Wilde (Geartec Yamaha) – fourth overall at the first round – is likely to be a non-starter after dislocating his shoulder at Canada Heights.
Barr was top MX2 man in both mixed-capacity races at Preston but he'll be pressed hard by rising stars including Lewis Tombs (Geartec Yamaha), Liam Knight (Dyer and Butler KTM) and Nathan Dixon (RFX KTM). He'll also have to watch out for his team-mate Lewis Trickett and the super-experienced Neville Bradshaw (Heads & All Threads Suzuki).
"It was a good start to the MX Nationals season for me at the opener at Preston Docks,” said Barr. "I'm looking at some more good results at Pontrilas and eager to support the MX Nationals team again next weekend.”
Only six points separate Shaun Southgate and Luke Parker at the top of the Bell Expert MX1 class and with four races over the weekend and 25 points for a win that could change very quickly.
Henry Williams has a 16-point lead in the Fly Racing Expert Cup and Jason Day will have to play catch-up to stop the championship slipping away while Zak Stealey and Charlie Hamlet need to up their game to stay in touch.
The youth classes can change from race to race but Michael Ellis and Taylor Hammal are always ones to watch. Saying that, the on-form Alexander Brown – fresh from his MXY2 overall win at last weekend's Maxxis round – will be hard to beat.
The battle between Joel Rizzi and Lewis Hall in the Gaerne Big Wheels is set to continue and will anyone be able to stop the dominance of Ike Carter in the Small Wheels?
It all kicks off at 9am on Saturday with timed practice followed by two races each for all classes except the pros who have their two races on Sunday. Racing on Sunday starts at 9.30am.
It only costs £10 for adults with kids under 10 getting in for free and that's for the whole weekend.
If you want to camp it's £10 for the weekend but don't arrive before 2pm on Friday. Postcode is HR2 0BG.
