After a brilliant 21 year career and being an excellent ambassador for Irish motocross on the global stage, Martin Barr had his final British championship event as a professional last weekend at Lyng.
And in typical gritty fashion, Barr raced just a couple of weeks after surgery on a broken leg during VMXDN at Foxhill. The tough Ulsterman still has one final race to look forward too with with the MXON at Ironman but it was an emotional day for Barr as the curtain came down after two decades of British championship racing that also included points in GP racing and AMA motocross.
Barr said: “After the injury at Foxhills, I wasn’t sure how the season would finish. I managed to get my operation and had almost 3 weeks until the last round at Lyng. I was back on the bike 2 weeks post-operation, and I wanted to be at the final round for the team, a final farewell, if you will. With the injury still fresh, and the way the track is at Lyng with big drop-offs and heavy landings, I had to ride conservatively, around 80% and then continue my recovery for the Motocross Des Nations.
“To be there for the team was a massive bonus and a very emotional day. Qualifying went really well, all things considered. I was over the moon with P8.
“The first race started well, I had an okay start and was running 10th until I dropped it passing the mechanics in the corner. I lost 6 positions, and that upset my flow. I missed the front group, which pulled away from me. I then rode out the race at my own pace, not doing anything stupid. If I were at 100% and had not missed the Duns double header and DNF’d a race at Hawkstone, I would have been pushing to get further up the field. Still, 13th all things considered, wasn’t a bad result”.
“I had it in my head I wanted to get a really good start with this being the last race. Sadly, I fluffed it! I kept pushing, making my way from 14th to 12th at the flag for 12th overall for my last professional race. It’s not where I wanted to be results-wise, the bigger picture was to be there for the team, a final farewell and thank everybody, especially Dylan & Anna, James, my mechanic and everyone involved with Apico Honda. It’s been a fantastic 4 years with the team, so it was nice to all be together for one last time.
“I was looking for James in the pit box as I pulled off the track, though he wasn’t there, which felt strange. I was then directed to the start straight, thinking I was going to be noise tested on my final race! Then I saw everyone there, and that was really cool. It was a nice ending to my professional career. It was an emotional day. I don’t mind saying a few tears were shed by myself and other people, which shows how much it meant to me and everybody. So that’s the end of my professional racing career. I won’t be too far away and have made some lifelong friends with Dylan, Anna and everybody at Apico. It was nice I was able to be at the final race to sign things off properly with the team before my final Motocross Des Nations for Team Ireland”.
