The penultimate round of the Michelin MX Nationals took place at Cusses Gorse, close to Salisbury Plain in Hampshire. This was to be the last Professional Motocross event to take place before the track closed its gates, sadly for the last time. The weather had not been kind, and after the International Quad & Sidecar event the week prior to this, the track looked tough and technical for Sunday’s racing.
Martin was feeling much better from the injuries he’d sustained at Blaxhall and was ready to take the fight to the Leatt Pro MX1 Class. He went out into the qualifying session confident, though struggled with the conditions and couldn’t get a clear lap so had to settle for 9th place in the Leatt Pro MX1 Class.
In race 1, with the new format of having the MX1 riders line up on the outside of the gate box, and the Apico Pro MX2 riders line up inside, Martin had no option but to pick the ninth gate. With the first corner being a hairpin bend at Cusses and not getting the jump, Martin tried to come in closer toward the apex of the corner but tagged another rider and crashed. He came over the first tabletop dead last, so had a lot of work to do. After pushing through a number of Apico Pro MX2 riders, he managed to catch and pass up to 11th at the flag.
After resolving a suspension issue from the first race, Martin was prepared to push on and aim for a better finish in race 2. After getting a start inside the top 10, Martin managed to get a few laps in before he noticed the same rear shock issue that had affected his first race. Knowing what the problem was and having a large enough gap on the next MX1 rider, Martin was able to control the bike around the course for the duration of the race, staying in front of his competitors and finishing 9th in the Leatt Pro MX1 Class race, for 8th overall.
Martin now lies 7th in the Michelin MX Nationals Leatt Pro MX1 Championship, after missing a round due to injury.
Dylan: “It’s been a funny season for many reasons, injuries, cancellations, and terrible weather. Regardless of this, we’ve all pushed to make the best of things and after a great start to this championship, Martin was unfortunate to have suffered a DNF at the first round of the REVO and the injuries sustained at Blaxhall. This weekend has shown a somewhat return to form for Martin. In his second race, although hampered by the rear shock issue, he dug deep and showed why we’d selected him for the team. The season has been cut short, which is a shame as we are just starting to see the old Martin, and although a top 5 finish in the Michelin MX Nationals is still possible, we’ll have to dig deep and do what we can to finish the season strong.”
There’s a break now before the season resumes in September and we’re looking forward to the Vets Des Nations before this at the end of this month. They’ll be some familiar faces racing for the Apico Vets with Matt Burrows, Jamie Law and of course, Martin Barr competing. We’ll be running the Apico Hydration Station in conjunction with Ice Valley, raising funds for the Northwest Air Ambulance Charity as we have done for many years now. Anyone can come to the Apico stand and take bottles of water for a donation to the Air Ambulance. They’ll be a few ex-factory bikes on display related to Apico’s past. Be sure to visit the stand to see them and get your water from Apico & Ice Valley.
