| Round 1 of the Michelin MX Nationals kicked off at Fat Cat Moto Parc close to Doncaster for the team’s nearest home round of the championship. After setting up on Saturday morning, and with Jack Lindsay racing in the Expert Class the same day, the rest of the team were ready for the Elite MX1 sponsored by Leatt and Elite MX2 sponsored by Apico Factory Racing on Sunday morning. Martin Barr – Leatt Elite MX1 Practice was a little disappointing for Martin, he’d initially looked forward to the track on Saturday, though by Sunday it was a fast and bumpy affair and he struggled to get a quick lap in finishing 15th in MX1 with 30th gate pick. In race 1 Martin had a bad start coming past the mechanic’s area in 27th position with a lot of work to do. Feeling much better than the week previously at the MXGB, Martin got his head down and pushed on through conditions he usually enjoys to 11th at the flag. Race 2 was a matter of survival, though Martin had his plan and although he had another poor start, he soon got into his rhythm picking off positions from the back of the field up to 6th position by putting in consistent lap times. This gave Martin 8th Overall in the Leatt Elite MX1 Class. |
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| Jamie Law – Apico Factory Racing Elite MX2 Using his experience Jamie timed the qualifying lap to perfection, putting in a solid early lap and remaining 6th fastest in MX2. This made the difference, with Jamie getting the jump and coming into the first full lap as the second place MX2 rider. Unfortunately, Jamie’s tactic was to reserve energy in the first half of the race which lost him a number of positions before coming back in the second half, making a couple of passes to finish 6th in MX2. Race 2 saw another fantastic start inside the top 3 MX2 riders, though after struggling with the track and bike set up, Jamie had to keep pushing to fend off the chasing pack of MX2 riders for 7th at the flag and 6th overall in the Apico Factory Racing Elite Class. |
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| Stuart Edmonds – Leatt Elite MX1 After qualifying a very respectable 8th, Stuart went into the day’s racing still not feeling 100% from a niggling back injury and illness, though was determined to get some points on the board. After getting a top 5 jump out of the gate, Stuart’s first few laps of race 1 were very encouraging before he started to feel a little fatigued due to the demanding nature of the track and slipped down the order, recovering a few positions in the final laps to finish 13th. In race 2 Stuart had an even better start inside the top 3. After making some progress he made a small mistake that resulted in a crash that zapped all his energy. Undeterred, Stuart went about putting in consistent laps to cross the line in 10th and finishing 10th Overall in the Leatt Elite MX1 Class. |
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| Jack Lindsay – RFX Expert MX2 Jack struggled to get a fast lap in qualifying and finished the session in 9th position, leaving it all to do for the 4 races across the weekend. Saturday’s races didn’t go to plan. After a poor start in race 1 Jack had a mid-air collision with another rider off a jump and was dead last. He made it back up to 12th after a determined effort passing half the field. Race 2 was a little better, again with a crash Jack managed to get into a rhythm and finish 9th MX2. Sunday was a better day, with a good start Jack managed to finish 4th though still felt he had more in the tank. After coming off the back of a good race Jack felt confident and got another mid-pack start and quickly made up a few places to 5th MX2 before making a mistake and coming off the track into a large puddle. That was the end of his race, finishing 12th overall in MX2. |
| Dylan Brown, Team Manager We were looking forward to the first round of the Michelin MX Nationals, not only as a team off the back of Jamie’s podium last week, but now with Apico being a sponsor of the Elite MX2 Championship and with Leatt, one of our distributed brands, being the sponsors of the MX1 Elite Class. Looking at the track on Sunday, we knew it was going to be tough and technical and we tried our best to prepare for the racing. Martin had a tough qualifying session, though felt up to the challenge and managed to pull through in the first race after a tough start. His progress in the second race from a similar start was a brilliant display of riding and one of the reasons I wanted to sign Martin initially. He shows great tenacity and has that ‘never give up’ attitude of a racer. We know there’s more to come from the Ulsterman and I’m looking forward to watching his season develop. Jamie had some great starts and stood up to the tough track, even though he felt like he was up against it, I thought he showed great resolve and I was happy with his performance and strong mindset to get the job done and finish 6th overall in the Apico Elite MX2 class. Stuart has been struggling with a pre-season injury though managed to fire out the gate and push for the results we know he’s capable of. The good news is he’s getting stronger with more bike time and it’s only a matter of time until he is back in the positions, we saw him in last season. Jack had a tough weekend; he’s competed in the Expert class last season, and we know he has the potential to be pushing for podiums, and this shown in his Sunday races. Thanks to all our sponsors, we hope you’re pleased with our representation of your brands. We now look to the next event in the calendar which is the MXGB at Foxhills. |