Report: Ulster championship final round Desertmartin
Jake Sheridan and comeback man James Mackrel won the battles at Desertmartin taking the MX2 and MX1 overall wins but it was Glenn McCormick and John Meara who won the war with McCormick being crowned MX2 Ulster champion and John adding the Ulster MX1 title to his Irish championship in 2019.
Meara won race one after running down Mackrel, but disaster struck in race two when he went down in turn two and had to come from the back of the field, Meara would get up to second but Mackrel, looking great on the bike in his first championship race back from injury, rode to an easy win on a tough and rutted circuit.
Jake Sheridan won both MX2 motos over Glenn McCormick but McCormock, despite a couple of crashes, did what he had to do to take the championship and did it with a moto to spare – allowing some fun for the final moto of the year!
McCormick decided to ditch the 250 and hopped on the 450 for the third race – and my word did he look good on it! Riding in a way that appeared to be less rushed and more methodical thanks to the extra power, McCormick made things look easy.
Gating third behind Mackrel and leader Meara, McCormick settled into the pace of the leaders before making his moves, he went by Mackrel then put the move on Meara to take the lead in his first Ulster championship race on the big bike!
Meara looked ready to fight back but a front wheel puncture ended his hopes and his season – but fortunately it didn’t matter in the overall MX1 championship as the Norman Watt Kawasaki rider still went home with the number one plate.
Up front Mackrel tried to put in a bit of charge towards the end but McCormick, riding with his feet on the pegs, was untroubled, calm, cool and collected as he used his brilliant technique to navigate the treacherous course to take a big win – he looks born to ride the bigger machine!
Mackrel too can be pleased with his day, coming back from injury to leave with the overall win, it looked like he hadn’t missed a beat despite the time off the bike.
In Grade B Conor Mullen took a well deserved title in MX2 after dominating all year but he only raced the opening moto, enough to get the title, after a practice crash during the week left him battled and bruised.
It was a bit of shame too because it would have been nice to see him battle rising star Ryan Mawhinney who showed what he could do on his Team Green Kawasaki.
Mawhinney was superb, taking all three race wins with lap times that would have made him competitive near the front in grade A, you wouldn’t have guessed he has only made the switch to a four-stroke and the Kawasaki after being on a Revo Husqvarna 125 all year!
Mawhinney has great technique on the bike and is certainly one of the big future pro hopes for Irish motocross coming through in the next couple of years.
MX1
MX2
