2011 MRA ULSTER MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND 1 PREVIEW

Saturday 27th March is the opening round of the MRA Ulster Motocross Championship promoted by the Killinchy Club at the newly revamped Downpatrick Motocross Park.
Situated just off the Clough Rd outside the town itself, the circuit has been totally redeveloped by the owning Orr family, with assistance from 2&4 Wheel Steering Group over the winter with the picturesque hillside track receiving modernisation with more jumps, rhythm sections etc, as well as enhanced spectator viewing.

Tommy Merton holeshots at March Hare

This will add to the excitement of the new season, and new format for the day, with the MX1 machines running the same day as the MX2 Championship for the first time in over ten years.
The Norman Watt Motorcycles MX1 Premier class is arguably the Blue Riband class, and unfortunately defending Champion Robert Hamilton from Portavogie will not be competing on his G&G Ross Yamaha as he suffered a broken wrist at the recent March Hare Motocross and will be out for a few more weeks.
This leaves the Championship wide open for some of the usual suspects in Ulster MX, with regulars such as Tommy Merton on the Norman Watt No Fear Kawasaki, Wayne Garrett on his TSR KTM, and Richard Bird on the Watt Motorcycles KTM as favourites for race wins.
There are a few new faces to this class, and one returnee who will be looking to upset this applecart, with Michael McCammond on the JAR Honda showing magnificent form on his first run on a 450 machine at the March Hare, the Larne teenager will be looking to make his mark early.
The AJ Plumbing team will have a regular presence in the MX1 class for the first time, with both Andrew O’Brien and David Gorman moving up to the new 350 KTM, and the returning multi time Ulster and Irish Champion Phillip McCullough on the big 450, they are hoping to make their mark on their MX1 class debut too.
Threats from the Republic of Ireland are few these days unfortunately, with Stuart Edmonds on campaign in the UK, but Ross Brown, newly mounted on a Vigors KTM always shows well at Downpatrick, so he will be an outside bet for a Podium.
In the Nutt Travel MX2 Championship, Merton and Garrett will join AJ Plumbing teamster, and reigning Irish Champion Jason Garrett at the sharp end, probably joined by a host of young chargers hoping to make their name i9n the smaller class, although Semi Expert Champion John Meara has still not recovered from a testing crash in California in January, Ryan Adair, Adam Murphy and others will be out for glory.
In the Glenhead Engineering/Laverty MX Semi Expert Open Class, this is a wide open Championship with Adair, Murphy and the other MX2 riders mixing with the older riders such as Clifford Bailey on MX1 machines, look for these names plus Mark Dynes, Mark Carville, Andrew Gill and Mark Patterson to be a feature.
These classes will be ably supported by the Russell’s Motorcycles Clubman MX1/3 class where front runners will be the familiar ones of John Guy, James McClements, Ryan Canning etc., with the Spence Racing Clubman MX2 class having some newer names such as Jonathan Gill, Stephen Mulholland, Andrew Kidd, and Andrew Agnew at the front.
The action starts with practice at 10.00, racing around 1130, with three races per class.  The MRA have worked hard to ensure that prize money will be paid on the day, but there are additional awards at season’s end for Championship positions.

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