Press Release

Barr presents Proppa.com KTM with podium on Irish soil


Desertmartin
was for a long time a fixture on the Maxxis British Motocross
Championship calendar, but in recent years, the championship has
concentrated on the mainland. This weekend the championship finally
returned to the land of road-race legends, one that Proppa.com KTM's top rider Martin Barr calls home.





With the weather temperamental and giving the spectators and
competitors rain, wind, sun, clouds and more rain, Barr pulled pole out
of the hat during qualifying, showing that he meant business and would
try to win this one for the team. Barr's class compatriot Nathan Parker,
and the team's sole MX2 rider Liam Garland also put in a hard effort on
what is known as one of the most demanding tracks in the county,
qualifying in thirteenth and in thirty-fourth in their respective
classes.





There is no doubt that the MX1 class races were all about Barr,
Anderson and Whatley. In the first race, Barr took the lead early, but a
mistake cost him the lead and several positions, which took him much of
the race to recover. After cutting the deficit to less than two seconds
he kept the pressure on Anderson but just couldn’t make a pass and had
to settle for second at the flag. The second race saw Anderson snatch
the lead off Barr on the second lap, but spectacularly lose it halfway
in, handing the lead back to Barr who looked to have the race in the
bag. Anderson had other ideas and jumped down the inside of Barr with
just a couple of corners to go to steal the win. The final race was
clearly Anderson's, with Barr continuing the pressure in second.
Whatley, who in previous races had stalked Barr, made his move with the
two-lap board out to take the runner-up position this time around. The
end result saw Barr take second overall, giving the team another podium
and entering the top three in the championship.





For Parker, a good start in the first race developed into a battle
for sixth with Wayne Garrett and Jamie Law. Parker stole fifth off Law
with just a few corners to go, but left the door open on the very last
corner to hand the place back. The second race was a virtual re-run of
the first, seeing Parker reeling in first Law and then Garrett before
setting his sights on Jamie Smith. Making the right pass at the right
moment gave Parker the opportunity to advance to sixth and keep that
position to the finish flag. The final race was even more satisfactory
for Parker than the previous two. Starting off in sixth, Parker soon
found himself in fourth, and a lap later in third behind team mate Barr.
A relentless assault by Whatley and Krestinov left him in fifth at the
flag to record his best ever British Championship result in fifth
overall.





For Garland, the day started off in the worst way possible. A
mechanical failure ruled him out of the first race with no lap
completed. The second race was much improved with Garland soon finding
himself chasing the magic twentieth place for his first points, but it
was not to be. Fatigued arms dropped him back down the field into
twenty-eighth, and for the remaining laps of the race, he fought his way
back up three positions to end in twenty-fifth. The final race of the
day gave Garland more motivation. A start in twentieth looked to be the
most successful race yet, but once again the hand of fortune struck a
heavy blow, ending Garland's chances for points in the second lap, and
left him limping back to the paddock with a broken bike.





Team principal Steve Turner beamed at the end of the day, saying:
“All in all, it's been a great day for the team. Nathan rode well all
day with two sixths and a fifth for a fifth overall, Martin looked on it
from this morning straight-away, he nailed all three holeshots which is
fantastic for the team and KTM, but he was unlucky really because he
could've had two wins in the first two races. He finished second twice,
and he settled for third in the last race for a second overall. He's
moved up from sixth to third in the championship, so it's been a really
good weekend for us. Just a shame for poor Liam again. He had a bike
problem in two races, and especially in the last one where he was in the
points for the first time. But he'll live to fight another day, I'm
sure.”





Nathan Parker: “Qualifying this morning didn't go so well, I had bad
luck on every lap I tried to do something. I ended up thirteenth so I
didn't make it to the super-pole. In the first race, I had an OK start,
was mid-pack and caught up a little bit, and ended up sixth. I was
disappointed with my riding, I didn't feel like I was riding the way I
really can. I got two sixths and a fifth and that's my best result so
far, and I'm happy with that. I just need to get some of my confidence
back after I had a big crash mid-week which set me back a little bit.”





Martin Barr: “The weekend started off good, was on pole in both
qualifying and super-pole, so that gave me a lot of confidence. I had
the holeshot in the first race and a few seconds later just threw it
away and then later had another big moment, but I just reeled them all
back in. I was in second behind Brad but it just wasn't enough. In the
second race I had another holeshot, then ended up behind Brad. When he
washed out, I had six seconds to get into the lead and I didn't ride any
good at all. A few laps later I made a few big mistakes and Brad got me
back in the last lap which I am just really annoyed about. I'm just
really disappointed because I feel I threw the first two races away. In
the final race, another holeshot, and I was feeling OK following Brad,
and Kristian came back up behind me and had a few better lines than I
did and he got me. I finished second overall but I really would've liked
to have been on the top step with this being my home race. All in all
it's been all right, I've moved up to third in the championship, and
I'll live to fight another day.”





Liam Garland: “Qualifying wasn't too bad, was thirty-fourth which I
wasn't too happy about. I felt good, the lap times weren't too far off
the places where I want to be. In the first race we had a problem with
the bike, I did about three corners and then DNFed that one. In the
second one I was going well, I was getting to twentieth and got some arm
pump and faded a little towards the end but recovered and ended up
twenty-fifth. In the third one I felt really good being in twentieth,
but in the second lap something broke again and that was it.”
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