With British Championship riders making the trip across to race the Ulster Championship this weekend – don’t forget about the local talent who will be eager to run right at the front of the pack.
We caught up with some of the main local riders to get their thoughts ahead of the event.
Martin Barr:
I am really looking forward to this weekends race at Mountain Quarter, I’ve never rode the track before but I was down last week having a look and the club are really putting in the work and it’s looking very good. It’s cool to see a few of the top riders I race with week in week out over come across the pond to line up. Of course I’ll be out to give it a good go. Hopefully we see the spectators out in force to support the event and club for putting on what’s going to be a brilliant days racing.
Glenn McCormick:
Mountain quarter is a track I really enjoy and look forward to riding whenever I can each year as it is typically only raced on once a year. It usually ends up clashing and I don’t get to ride it much. The Knock club put in a lot of effort like at St Johns Point at the start of the year – the track was brilliant and I just think it’s nice to come race at home.
It’s brilliant to see them (British Championship riders) coming over. I think it will really help myself and our home guys – especially those who don’t get to race against all these guys that much or ever so I think it will benefit them.
Obviously I want to win no matter where I race but a home race you really want to beat them and I think it can help me a lot push forward in England if I can mix it up and have a good day against them here then I have no reason why I can’t do that in England. The majority of the guys are going to be racing on the 450 so I’m going to have my work cut out but I’m up for the challenge!
Stuart Edmonds:
Due to having my son being born, the past few months I kind of sat back and had more commitments to do. So I couldn’t really attend much racing other than the British Championship and the Scottish. It was already kind of taking up a lot of my time and I had to put a bit more time into my partner. When Enzo was born it has kind of relieved me a bit more now with being able to approach some other events.
The club actually asked me a few weeks ago about attending and I was more than happy, I always enjoyed the track. I’ve been there a few times and it’s always a great track to ride. It promotes good racing as well so it’ll be interesting. I’m looking forward to racing against the lads.
It’s nice to see them come from across the water and race some tracks here. It would be good if we could see more of it and definitely more racing as well, especially down the south. It’d be nice to try and get the insurance thing sorted to get racing back up and running. I haven’t been riding and training as much as I would like to be over the past few weeks. I’m a little bit rusty at the minute but I felt I was riding well in Landrake. Things have gone back to normal so you’ll start to see a different Stuart now coming up to the end of the year. I’ll start to get back strong again, back fit again. I’ve already been out riding a lot more.
I’m motivated to do well this weekend, to try and get a win and show them how it’s done. It won’t be easy with all the boys coming across but I’m pretty sure it will make for interesting racing. I hope there will be a lot of spectators there would be good. I’m just looking forward to the next few months and getting the moto’s back in, getting the training back done and getting myself back up to the front of the pack.
Nathan Green:
I think this is going to be great for our sport at home. Mark and all the boys involved have put an incredible effort into this and it doesn’t go unnoticed. It will be great to see some of the top UK riders over, I’ve really enjoyed doing most of the British rounds this year and I really feel it’s bringing on my riding. I am improving each time which is all I can ask for. I think this weekend it will make for really good racing. It would be cool to have a good result and I will always give it my best shot. If I could get a start and be in the mix I would be buzzing but will take it as it comes and go from there. I hope to see all the home boys there to get behind it and try to get the sport turned around at home.
Even though Jason Meara is unlikely to race – we still got his thoughts on the event as a whole.
Jason Meara:
It’s great to see the effort Mark has put into make this event happen. Many people don’t that he actually made the trip to the British Championship at Canada Heights to go around and approach the riders face to face about this race. It is great to see how well supported it is going to be. His hard work has paid, and the track looks fantastic. Hopefully the weather is on side and it makes for a great days racing.
