With the Motocross Des Nations teams starting to be confirmed thick and fast, we caught up with the new Irish team manager, Mark Mooney to discuss the team selection he faces and get his thoughts on the riders in the running to head to RedBud.
On the selection last year…
In hindsight we possibly had the wrong team last year and that’s not to mention any names. I’m just not sure we had the right experience there on the day, we should have qualified as that’s always the goal. It’s very easy to say that now but we just have to make the right decision this year and I believe I will take the right team there. There’s four, five, six riders in the mix and right now I haven’t decided. I want to make sure I pick the three fittest and the three fastest that can represent Ireland without any questions being asked. We want as little controversy as possible and not like last year, that’s for sure.
On Martin Barr…
Martin, in my opinion is number one and I will say that publicly. He has a CV that he could show anyone in the world and any team manager and they’d probably have him on the team. I’m not going to lie, I have spoken to Martin, I can’t say anything further but I get on very well with Martin in the short amount of time I have talked to him. If you are asking me if he is in the mix, he certainly is.
An update on Stuart Edmonds…
He is currently injured but he has had the green light to ride the bike after a broken scaphoid that was operated on. He’s not currently fit and because of that he is a question mark, to be honest. We have little time if he is going to be fit so I can’t say too much at the moment. It is going to be hard but if he can put in a good result, you never know. We will have to wait and see what happens. I am under pressure to pick a team in the first week of August and maybe the 10th of August to have it wrapped up, that’s the latest I have it. I have to know whether we are sending bikes, renting bikes and have everything wrapped up with the FIM and by the 10th of August we’ll have three names and one or two reserves.
On the Meara Brothers…
They’re definitely in the mix. If you look at Jason, he’s been consistent this year and you can see his results creeping up. In the British he’s been strong in the top twelve, top ten. He is getting there and the consistency is good.
Then you have John who is probably the fastest on his day out of all of them. He isn’t riding as a pro and isn’t riding as regularly in the UK but he is certainly capable of doing it. We will have to see, he did do an MX2 MX National race and he was really quick – he was leading with a couple of laps to go. We all know he can do it and I wouldn’t strike him off the list either.
On Jake Sheridan…
Jake is someone I know well. He’s been training in the Netherlands and Belgium – he’s been busy with the birth of his little baby girl born in the last couple of weeks. He has great potential, is a fast rider and is very fast on the 250cc. I know he was thrown into the deep end last year starting out. His results this year have been mixed – he has had some good results at times. I haven’t spoken to him much but he is in the mix, I won’t say he isn’t.
On Glenn McCormick…
I like Glenn, a lot, he is a good rider and has raced the event we run in Dublin the past few years, I think he even won it one year. I think he is a brilliant rider with lots of potential, he is very fast, consistent and gets good starts. He can ride a 250cc as well, I’ve seen him ride a 250cc really well so he is certainly in the mix. I haven’t written any of them off.
You can listen to the entire podcast, below:
Interview: Andy McKinstry
