Press Release

Proppa.com KTM raises the bar at Hawkstone Park‏


Proppa.com
KTM joined British and World Championship teams at Hawkstone Park in
Shropshire for the annual Hawkstone International race this past
weekend. Martin Barr was the team's only MX1 rider as Nathan Parker
suffered an injury during the week and hopes to return for round two of
the Maxxis British Championship.





Qualifying got under way with drizzle falling from
the skies, but to everyone's relief, the weather improved in time for
the races at high noon. Martin showed that he was very much up for the
day's events after setting the bar high on his first lap of qualifying,
a bar that only two other riders were able to beat at the end of the
qualifying session, putting him in third. Liam was up against some of
the fastest riders in the world, qualifying just outside the top twenty.





In the first race, buoyed by his qualifying
position, Martin blasted out of the first corner in fifth and soon
after leapfrogged to fourth. There he put pressure on former World
Champion Steve Ramon and kept it up until a line change in the second
half of the race spat him over the bars. With a broken clutch lever, it
was impossible for him to continue safely. In the second race, Martin
took off with the lead, but struggled to find his groove. Once into a
race rhythm, he put pressure on several strong competitors before
settling into a solid and steady fifth place halfway through, ending
the day in tenth overall. The decision was taken after the second race
not to send Martin out in the Super Final race due to discomfort in his
neck, brought on by the crash in the first race.





Liam had a mixed day; the first race was
red-flagged after the half-way point while Liam was in twentieth place
after early gains to eighteenth. The second race again saw Liam race
his way into the top twenty, only to go down hard and wind himself,
bruising his ribs. Restarting in thirtieth, Liam then worked his way
back to twenty-sixth, soldiering on to the end for a mid-twenties
overall on the day.





"All in all, we've taken some real positives away
from today," Team principal Steve Turner commented on the day. "Martin
had a great qualifying in third, in the first race looked very
comfortable in fourth pushing Ramon. He showed he has the pace to
compete against world championship riders, looked really good, smooth
and fast, so I'm really happy with that. He proved that the KTM 350SX-F
is strong and very competitive against the 450cc bikes on the line.





"Liam had tough day, Hawkstone's a really difficult
track, especially when you're a 15 year-old having to manhandle a big
bike around there, but he looked good. He had a couple of crashes, but
he finished both races, and again it's just about building slowly, so
I'm happy with his progress. It's a shame Nathan missed the meeting. He
injured his shoulder on Wednesday whilst practising, but with intensive
physiotherapy he will hopefully be back for Canada Heights next
weekend." 





Liam Garland: "Today went ok. The first race was
good, I had a bad start but fought my way through and ended up
twentieth before we got red-flagged. In the second race I was going
well but then hit a bank and went down. It didn't go the way I wanted
it to, but it's good experience, so I'm happy with it."





Martin Barr: "Things started off pretty good with a
third in qualifying, which was great considering the line-up. In the
first I was going really well, riding good and got up to fourth. I was
trying to push for a pass on Ramon and the back end stepped out and
launched me over the bars. I went down pretty hard, so I had to DNF
that one. In the second race I got the hole shot, which is brilliant
because I'm on a 350 against factory bikes and having such a long start
straight. I ended up fifth which wasn't so bad, but it could've been a
lot better."





The next race for the Proppa.com KTM team will be round two of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Canada Heights in Kent this coming weekend.


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