First British Championship win for Proppa.com KTM at Foxhills

It's been a long time coming, but for Proppa.com
KTM, the big dream became reality a little more at the venerated
Foxhill track near Swindon this past weekend. In the glorious July
summer weather, things got off to a good start for the team as riders
Martin Barr and Nathan Parker qualified in fourth and eighth in the
first qualifying session, with Barr improving on his first result in the
super-pole to finish in the top three.






The first race saw Barr get off to a good start in the top five and
soon found himself scrapping for that position with team-mate Parker,
but a few laps in first stalled, then crashed his bike and was left in
several positions down with an up-hill battle to improve his position.
Unable to do so, Barr ended in tenth. The second race was to be arguably
the most exciting race of the day as Barr fought his way from a
sixth-place start to third in two laps, and found himself inching ever
closer to leader Brad Anderson. A last-lap malfunction on Anderson's
bike handed Barr the win on a plate, a win gratefully received.






Barr then followed this win up with another in the third race after a
start that left him slow off the line but making excellent progress in
the first lap. Finding himself in second behind Alex Snow, Barr turned
up the pressure and found himself in the lead by just before the
half-way mark, and put in a steady performance that kept runner-up Gert
Krestinov at bay. With the madness of the results, Barr's 10-1-1 turned
into a fantastic first place overall, a position that had been Barr's
dream for years. This also moves Barr to within three points from second
overall in the championship.






Parker also had arguably his best day racing ever. After switching
to the new 2012 KTM 450 SX-F mid-week, Parker soon found himself
battling against the best riders the UK has to offer. In the first race
he found himself in a fantastic fifth place after fending off team-mate
Barr, and made no mistakes to finish in that position. In the second
race Parker found himself leading Barr again, but the two riders soon
switched positions, and with another perfect run, Parker found himself
in third behind Barr, another personal best. Things then got even better
as Parker streaked across the finish line past Anderson for a second
place behind Barr.






The third race saw Parker in second around the first few corners,
but a crash dropped him back to seventh, a position that he struggled to
return from. Attempting to pressure Anderson in sixth failed to make
any impression at all, and he had to make do with that seventh place and
a fifth overall, his best ever race result in the Maxxis championship
and missing out on a podium by just two points. This fantastic result
has also put a top five placing in the championship within arm's length,
a goal that Parker now has within his sights.






"It's been a very very strange day," commented team principal Steve
Turner. "With Martin getting a tenth in the first race my thought was
that this wouldn't be our day today, but then all of a sudden we had two
wins with everyone else throwing their bikes on the floor and crashing.
It just played into Martin's hands; he took his first overall win and
his first two individual race wins for the team, so it's absolutely
fantastic.






"It was a bit of a shame for Nathan, he was second overall when he
went into the third race, after two great races and a podium was
practically guaranteed if he stayed where he was or even lost a place or
two, but he chucked it on the floor and ended in seventh, and fifth
overall. It's a bit disappointing but if he keeps putting himself in
those positions, he'll have his day soon enough. It's been really
positive for the team with both riders having their best ever results."






Nathan Parker: "I changed to the new 450 SX-F mid-week and did a
little bit of testing, and with the time we had we got it going pretty
well. Qualifying this morning didn't go too well; I ended up eighth in
super-pole and made a few mistakes. In the first race I got a really
good start, passed a couple of people and ended up in fifth. In the
second race I had an even better start and was right up front with Alex
Snow and passed him, and Martin got past me and we ended up first and
second. It's the best result I've ever had. It was all on the last race
whether I'd get on the podium or not; I crashed and threw it all away.
It was disappointing at the end of the day, but it's the best result
I've ever had and I have to take the positives away from that."






Martin Barr: "Today's been a very good day. In qualifying I ended up
fourth and in super-pole managed to go one better to take third. The
first race didn't go to plan; I got a good start and got up to fourth or
fifth and was about to pass Tom and hit the bales and lost a few
positions. I got up to fourth again and then stalled it. I got going
again after that, had a big crash and ended up in tenth. Race two I had a
pretty good start and was in second chasing down Brad. In the last lap
he had a problem with the bike and I got past him with two corners to
go, and got my first MX1 win. I was over the moon with that. In the last
race I didn't get such a good start; Tom washed out and Brad and I hit
him and we had to come back. Then Nathan's front end washed out and he
crashed and took Brad with him. After I got going after that, I got past
Alex Snow for the lead and and put the hammer down for a few laps to
build up a six second lead over Gert. I had a brilliant day with a
10-1-1 for the overall win, my first ever in the British. It's been a
long time coming and I've finally done it. My 350 SX-F worked really
well today, so thank you to Proppa.com KTM."