Mixed Results Herald Spring for Proppa.com KTM
March 29, 2011, 1:15pm
A hint of spring awaited Proppa.com KTM at Canada Heights in Kent for the second round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship this past weekend as overcast and cold conditions made way for sunshine and balmier temperatures later in the day. Racing was marred by two red flags, but it did not stop the team's riders from putting their best efforts in.
The morning's qualifying session saw teenager Liam Garland make progress on his qualifying time compared to the previous round, whilst MX1 riders Martin Barr and Nathan Parker put in solid times in eighth and thirteenth.
Liam's first race got off to a good start with a start in eighteenth and he held his own against the more experienced riders in the class for much of the race. Fatigue set in eventually and he had to let riders pass who he had successfully kept at bay before, ending in thirty-second. The second race again got off the gate with mid-pack start, but a mechanical problem whilst in thirtieth place forced Liam to retire. The third race was Liam's second wind. Pushing hard after a poor start, he rode superbly, working his way through the pack to finish just outside the points in twenty-second place at the chequered flag.
Nathan's first race started with twisted steering and a face full of dirt in the first corner. After fixing up the bike, Nathan made up for lost time by leapfrogging all his rivals in the back of the pack to emerge at the end with a twenty-second place. The second race, red-flagged first for an injured Sebastien Pourcel, looked a lot better for Nathan. A top fifteen start developed into a battle with CCM's riders Tom Church and Stephen Sword, which ended with Nathan man-in-the-middle in eleventh at the second red flag. The third race again saw Nathan in the top fifteen from the beginning; a strong, solid run in eleventh throughout culminating in an eleventh place finish.
Martin, just like many of his rivals, struggled to make much progress on the tough track in his first race after a start in ninth, having to eventually settle for a seventh place. The second race looked to be a belter with Martin in third before the first red flag was raised and the race was restarted. The restart left Martin slightly worse off in tenth, and this time he found himself in sixth with the race stopped again. His third race was arguably the most frustrating. Downed in the second lap, Martin made the best of the situation and pushed himself to the limit to reach twelfth by mid-race, and a tenth place by the end.
"It just didn’t happen for us today," commented team principal Steve Turner afterwards. "Martin never got to grips with the track and just couldn’t force the pace enough to get into the big points scoring positions. To be fair every rider suffered from being unable to pass easily and apart from Simpson nobody put together three high-scoring results.
"With Nathan riding injured, crashing on the first corner in the first race was exactly what we didn’t want. Although he rode through the pain barrier in the other two races to record two eleventh places, his no score in the first leaves him with an uphill battle to get back into contention. Liam made good ground throughout the day and in the final race found some rhythm and rode superbly to move from thirty-second on the first lap to twenty-second at the flag. He beat a number of riders for the first time and it gave him some confidence to take forward into the next meeting."
Nathan Parker: "I'm happy with the way I rode, but not happy with the results. In the first race I went down on the start and my steering was all twisted when I got up. By the time I got going again, everyone was far ahead. The lap times were good, but obviously there was no good result. Before the second race was red-flagged the first time, I got a good jump out of the gate and was in the top ten and felt comfortable. Then the red flag came out, we went back to the line and I didn't get a good start the second time round. I pulled through, ended up in eleventh; it was a good ride. In the last race I got a reasonable start and and tried new lines to find places to pass, which was so difficult today. I got up to eleventh, just behind Martin, so not a bad race."
Martin Barr: "Today didn't really go to plan. In qualifying I ended up eighth which I was a bit disappointed about, but it took the pressure off from being in pole position. In the first race I had an OK start, but it was so hard to pass out there, and I ended up seventh. The second one was a bit better; I ended up sixth. In the final race I went down on the second lap and only managed tenth, so I'm really disappointed with the way things went today. I've lost even more points on the leaders now, I'm seventh in the championship but I'm a lot of points behind. It's been a frustrating day."
Liam Garland: "The first race was good. I had a good start and was running in eighteenth, but got tired towards the end and dropped back. I learned from that and getting experience from the top boys. In the second race I had a bad start, and fought my way through to thirtieth before the bike broke, so that wasn't so good. I made up for it in the last one though, I had a good race and made it through to twenty-second in the end, so I'm happy with that."
The team next travels to Doncaster for the first round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals at Fat Cat Moto Parc this coming weekend.
The morning's qualifying session saw teenager Liam Garland make progress on his qualifying time compared to the previous round, whilst MX1 riders Martin Barr and Nathan Parker put in solid times in eighth and thirteenth.
Liam's first race got off to a good start with a start in eighteenth and he held his own against the more experienced riders in the class for much of the race. Fatigue set in eventually and he had to let riders pass who he had successfully kept at bay before, ending in thirty-second. The second race again got off the gate with mid-pack start, but a mechanical problem whilst in thirtieth place forced Liam to retire. The third race was Liam's second wind. Pushing hard after a poor start, he rode superbly, working his way through the pack to finish just outside the points in twenty-second place at the chequered flag.
Nathan's first race started with twisted steering and a face full of dirt in the first corner. After fixing up the bike, Nathan made up for lost time by leapfrogging all his rivals in the back of the pack to emerge at the end with a twenty-second place. The second race, red-flagged first for an injured Sebastien Pourcel, looked a lot better for Nathan. A top fifteen start developed into a battle with CCM's riders Tom Church and Stephen Sword, which ended with Nathan man-in-the-middle in eleventh at the second red flag. The third race again saw Nathan in the top fifteen from the beginning; a strong, solid run in eleventh throughout culminating in an eleventh place finish.
Martin, just like many of his rivals, struggled to make much progress on the tough track in his first race after a start in ninth, having to eventually settle for a seventh place. The second race looked to be a belter with Martin in third before the first red flag was raised and the race was restarted. The restart left Martin slightly worse off in tenth, and this time he found himself in sixth with the race stopped again. His third race was arguably the most frustrating. Downed in the second lap, Martin made the best of the situation and pushed himself to the limit to reach twelfth by mid-race, and a tenth place by the end.
"It just didn’t happen for us today," commented team principal Steve Turner afterwards. "Martin never got to grips with the track and just couldn’t force the pace enough to get into the big points scoring positions. To be fair every rider suffered from being unable to pass easily and apart from Simpson nobody put together three high-scoring results.
"With Nathan riding injured, crashing on the first corner in the first race was exactly what we didn’t want. Although he rode through the pain barrier in the other two races to record two eleventh places, his no score in the first leaves him with an uphill battle to get back into contention. Liam made good ground throughout the day and in the final race found some rhythm and rode superbly to move from thirty-second on the first lap to twenty-second at the flag. He beat a number of riders for the first time and it gave him some confidence to take forward into the next meeting."
Nathan Parker: "I'm happy with the way I rode, but not happy with the results. In the first race I went down on the start and my steering was all twisted when I got up. By the time I got going again, everyone was far ahead. The lap times were good, but obviously there was no good result. Before the second race was red-flagged the first time, I got a good jump out of the gate and was in the top ten and felt comfortable. Then the red flag came out, we went back to the line and I didn't get a good start the second time round. I pulled through, ended up in eleventh; it was a good ride. In the last race I got a reasonable start and and tried new lines to find places to pass, which was so difficult today. I got up to eleventh, just behind Martin, so not a bad race."
Martin Barr: "Today didn't really go to plan. In qualifying I ended up eighth which I was a bit disappointed about, but it took the pressure off from being in pole position. In the first race I had an OK start, but it was so hard to pass out there, and I ended up seventh. The second one was a bit better; I ended up sixth. In the final race I went down on the second lap and only managed tenth, so I'm really disappointed with the way things went today. I've lost even more points on the leaders now, I'm seventh in the championship but I'm a lot of points behind. It's been a frustrating day."
Liam Garland: "The first race was good. I had a good start and was running in eighteenth, but got tired towards the end and dropped back. I learned from that and getting experience from the top boys. In the second race I had a bad start, and fought my way through to thirtieth before the bike broke, so that wasn't so good. I made up for it in the last one though, I had a good race and made it through to twenty-second in the end, so I'm happy with that."
The team next travels to Doncaster for the first round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals at Fat Cat Moto Parc this coming weekend.
