Todd and Hamilton win at Desertmartin!
Brad Todd showed the local boys the quick way round Desertmartin on Easter Monday with three holeshots and three wins making his trip over the water well worth his while.
Todd had a bit of pressure from Jason Meara late in race one and again early in race three but aside from that it was clear sailing for the Husqvarna rider who showed why he is now a top contender in the British Championship.
Jason Meara followed up his podium in Spain with second overall at Desertmartin and will no doubt have learnt a lot from getting to see the pace of Todd, Meara did all he could to catch him in race one and got the gap to within a second in race three only for Todd to pull away as the race went on. But Meara is learning every week, and despite a crash in race one and two, he still secured second and effectively leads the championship as Todd won’t take part in all the rounds.
Richard Bird was third overall and was very impressive in his first MX2 race in a good few years. Bird got good starts and rode solid all day except for a crash in race three, but he will be a threat for this title if he keeps this form up!
James Mackrel is a youngster in a hurry, every time yo see this kid ride, he seems to have found more speed, he is getting closer and closer to the front and a third in race three proved his speed. John Meara, who like Richard Bird, rode both classes claimed fifth overall, but that doesn’t reflect the speed the oldest Meara had on the day, John has the speed to win races but a few mistakes held him back, keep an eye on the potential of a Meara v Meara battle for the title!
Sean Devlin also deserves a mention, after a few years away from racing, Devlin scooped up seventh overall despite some arm-up and showed some impressive pace. The talent doesn’t go away and Devlin, who used to battle Graeme Irwin in the youth, should only get better from here.
MX2
1 714 Brad Todd 75 25 25 25
2 77 Jason Meara 62 20 20 22
3 57 Richard Bird 60 22 22 16
4 65 James Mackrel 51 13 18 20
5 60 John Meara 48 15 15 18
6 313 Jordon Keogh 45 14 16 15
7 164 Sean Devlin 42 16 14 12
8 70 Matthew Loughlin 36 10 13 13
9 35 Jordan McCaw 32 18 0 14
10 6 William Donnelly 32 12 12 8
Robert Hamilton and Gary Gibson put on an epic battle for the crowd as the MX1 overall came down to a bar to bar duel in race three.
Gibson had controlled race one to win easily but Hamilton came roaring back in race two to take the win setting up a mouth-watering finale on a rough Desertmartin circuit for the final race of the day.
Gibson took the holeshot and looked like he was ready to check out but Hamilton had other ideas and went to the front as Gibson dropped to third before quickly getting himself up to second and setting his sights on Hamilton. Gibson gradually made the ground up and made the move on Hamilton with a few laps to go only for Hamilton to hit straight back and reclaim the lead.
Hamilton picked up the pace and pulled away slightly only for Gibson to come back again and make an attempted block pass that Hamilton managed to slip and maintain the lead. Gibson’s final throw of the dice came on the final lap only for the backmarkers to get in the way and give Hamilton the gap he needed to take a very impressive win that gave the man from Portavogie the overall win by three points and the championship lead.
MX2 winner Brad Todd rode race three against the 450s and came from a mid-pack start up to third place in what was another great ride. But by then Hamilton and Gibson were long gone and no-one could touch their blistering pace up front.
Wayne Garrett continued his comeback with a steady third overall as he builds himself back up from a badly broken leg last season. Ironmen Richard Bird and John Meara finished fourth and fifth overall and deserve a round of applause for their efforts, racing six motos around Desertmartin is no easy task but they are both there or thereabouts for both championships after round one.
Jordan Keough was also impressive and like Bird and Meara rode two classes, finishing sixth overall in both. To add to the difficulty Keough was switching from a four-stroke to a two-stroke between classes, riding a TM two-stroke with a lot of gusto and enthusiasm in MX1!
Multi-time Irish and Ulster championship Philip McCullough made a come-back appearance and showed some pretty good speed, but three DNFs meant McCullough didn’t get the top ten results he probably should have after going all out in the first few laps to run with the boys at the front. McCullough is still as determined as ever and had a few hairy moments as he tried to battle the current generation of Ulster championship contenders!
MX1
1 3 Robert Hamilton 72 22 25 25
2 4 Gary Gibson 69 25 22 22
3 33 Wayne Garrett 56 18 20 18
4 57 Richard Bird 54 20 18 16
5 60 John Meara 52 16 16 20
6 313 Jordon Keogh 44 15 14 15
7 8 Craig Browne 39 10 15 14
8 91 Ryan Adair 35 14 8 13
9 19 David Russell 32 9 11 12
10 50 Stephen Mullally 32 11 10 11
