Jake Shipton will spearhead Yamaha’s official MX1 effort in the British championships next year, riding for the Crescent Yamaha team. He was teamed up with Martin Barr in the MX2 class in 2019, but the team has yet to announce any other plans. It’s known Barr wants to move up to the MX1 class, though.
For his fourth consecutive year with Crescent, YZ450F MX1 rider Jake Shipton started the year returning from a back injury sustained in late 2018 with a couple of solid results in both the MX Nationals and the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship.
Jake’s fortune changed at the opening round of the Bridgestone Masters where both he and Martin took the overall win in their respective classes and were rewarded with the red rider plates. This initial success stuck with the pair throughout the Championship and, despite a broken collarbone for Martin, ultimately led them to a double Crescent Yamaha victory as they were crowned 2019 MX1 and MX2 Bridgestone Champions
Having won the last couple of years, expectations were high for Jake Shipton and he didn’t disappoint, bringing home the triple with his third consecutive race win after a titanic fight with Elliot Banks Browne.
In contrast and only in its second year, the Steelhawk “Rock It Til Sundown” Motocross event took place in August and being Jake’s local track, drew a large crowd of fans and supporters. Not one to buckle under the pressure, Jake showed his class, narrowly missing out on the overall win to Harri Kullas in the pro category.
His confidence building, Jake went into the fourth round of the British Championship with a new-found belief that rewarded him with a career-best second position, only one second from the race winner and fighting off the attacks of MXGP star Tommy Searle who finished third. His hard work finally paid off in round 5 where he raced to a career-first Maxxis ACU British Championship podium, finishing 3rd overall.
This year saw new MX2 signing Martin Barr, a highly experienced professional, debut the all-new 2019 Yamaha YZ250F at the indoor Arenacross UK Championship closely followed by the opening round of the MX Nationals. His campaign got off to a flying start with an overall victory in the Pro MX2 Class, and the momentum continued as Martin raced to a dramatic double victory in round 2. More strong results followed, but a late season injury meant that Martin narrowly missed out on the Championship, finishing 2nd overall behind Josh Gilbert.
In the MAXXIS ACU British Championship, Martin rode strongly and consistently all season, including a podium at the penultimate round and culminating with a very solid 4th overall in the Championship.
Last month was also Martin’s 15th experience of representing Ireland at the annual Motocross Des Nations, this time in Assen, The Netherlands. Unfortunately, the conditions were appalling but Martin and his teammates managed to finish in a respectable 18th place out of 34 teams.