For the first round of the Revo British Motocross Championship, the team ventured down to the newly created Oakhanger venue in Hampshire. This was an exciting prospect for everyone, being able to compete at a new track and kickstart the 2023 campaign.
Martin Barr, 50 was all set to compete in the MX1 class with Jack Lindsay 433 in the MX2 Class. The weather had not been kind, and after both riders completed their track walk on Saturday, the team had dinner and settled in for the night before Sunday’s action.
Jack was out first in the MX2 practice session, and unfortunately, things did not go to plan. On lap 3 of practice, Jack had just passed the pits and was on the first tabletop take-off when a stone got caught in his chain as he tried to whip, the bike ended up going one way and Jack went the other. This resulted in Jack breaking his tibia and fibula and he will be recovering for some time. We wish Jack a speedy recovery and hope to see him at the racing when he’s back on his feet.
Martin Barr went to the line on his 2023 Husqvarna FC450, ready to take on the best riders in the country. After a tough, mid-pack start Martin was able to get into his flow a little and make up some positions to 10th place, which he held for a few laps before having to retire due to a bike overheating issue. This was not the start to the season any of us had wanted, though Martin’s mechanic and Dylan managed to strip the suspension and necessary parts to add to the spare race bike for Martin to be able to go out in race 2.
In MX1 race 2, Martin did not get a great jump and was mid-pack. It took a few laps to get used to the brand-new bike and after being caught up in another rider’s crash he lost a number of positions. After the initial early lap frustrations, he was able to get back into his flow and pass riders as he toughed out the conditions. Martin put in his fastest laps in the closing stages of the race. He passed the last rider just before the flag to finish 6th and 14th overall after the unfortunate DNF in race 1.
Dylan Brown Team Manager
“We were excited to get going for the first round of the Revo British Motocross Championship, though unfortunately, we have not had a great start to the 2023 season. Jack has trained so hard over the winter. I felt for him after having the unfortunate accident in practice, it was just one of those freak accidents. The good news is he’s in a positive place mentally and has his family around him as he starts his recovery from the broken tibia & fibula in his left leg. We wish Jack well with his recovery and look forward to him being able to attend races when he can.
“It was bitter-sweet for Martin too, we had a technical problem and had to turn around the spare bike so he could go out in the second race. This was a significant effort for James and myself, though we managed to pull it off and Martin was able to put in a great performance that saw him hard-charging and passing over the last half of the race to finish 6th and 14th overall. This certainly made up for the issues in race 1 and we were able to salvage the weekend. The conditions were tough for everyone, though we have learnt from this for the MX Nationals at the same venue this weekend. We have made mechanical changes to prevent the same problem from occurring going forward. Thanks to all the team sponsors and team members for the support and for helping through a tough weekend”.
