Buildbase Honda Racing’s Graeme Irwin took another overall MX1 win at round three of the Pirelli British Masters at Landrake Moto Parc in Cornwall on Sunday.
The Irishman strengthened his championship lead with a 2-1 score as fellow countryman and team-mate Martin Barr ran 2-3 to keep his grip on the MX2 class red series leader’s plate.
On the ultra-fast, stony circuit that runs up, down and around the side of a steep hill, the Irishman recovered from a crash in the opening Pro MX1 and MX2 moto to bring his 2016 CRF450R home in second.
He then dominated moto two, quickly dispatching the early race leader and then checking out to win from team-mate Kristian Whatley to secure the overall and extend his series lead.
“It was a good day,” said Graeme. “The first race I went down on the second or third lap – I made a silly mistake and spun around going up a hill so it took me a while to get the bike up. In the last race I got a half-decent start and moved into second, took the lead on the second lap and just put my head down for five or six laps and opened up quite a big gap so I could cruise home.
“Kristian was coming strong at the end but I knew he was never going to catch me.”
It was a much tougher day for former champion Kristian who struggled with suspension settings in race one and showed incredible resilience to come back from a major crash to score solid points with a top-10 finish. Second time out, with revised shock and fork settings, he looked much stronger and bounced back from a bad start to chase down his team-mate in the final laps.
“It could have been better,” said Kristian. “I qualified second which I was quite happy with. We were running a different suspension set-up which felt quite good but we changed some things for the first race which didn’t work. I had a crash on the first or second lap, got back up and then had another crash and went through the fencing and ended up seventh.
“In the second race we made more changes to the fork and shock and I felt a lot better. I had a terrible start, came back through and then someone fell off in front of me and I had nowhere to go so I hit him but stayed on. I went from around eighth back through to second and then rode my own race.
“Graeme was quite far ahead – about 15 seconds – but I was pushing to catch him because I felt I needed to redeem myself after the opener and got back to about four seconds behind which I was pretty happy with. I felt good out there in the second race.”
With his MX2 team-mate Lewis Trickett sitting out the round after sustaining a concussion during mid-week practice, Martin was the sole CRF250R Buildbase Honda pilot but he rose to the occasion with a typically hard-fought performance.
After narrowly missing out in a fierce fight for class victory in the opening race, his dogged determination ensured a podium finish in moto two to protect his championship lead with 2-3 scores.
“It was pretty tight racing,” said Martin. “I qualified second and in the first race made a really good start and me and Bryan MacKenzie passed each other a few times. We were battling but he got the race win which was really disappointing.
“The track was pretty one-line in places and it was hard to pass but in race two I got another good start and got into the lead in MX2 before Bryan passed me. We were going at it and with about four laps to go he stalled it in a corner and I ran into the back of him so Steven Clarke passed me.
“I ended up second overall but it was another solid weekend and another podium. I’ve still got the red plate and I’m looking forward to going to the next round of the Maxxis at Desertmartin next weekend as the series leader. It’s back home tonight and tomorrow morning I’ll be back to work.”
With team owner Dave Thorpe attending the TT on the Isle of Man, his son Ryan was overseeing the team’s weekend efforts.
“Overall it was a great performance,” said Ryan, “and I can’t fault the effort all three riders put in. We didn’t get Kristian’s suspension settings right in the opening moto but after a rethink he was much more comfortable in race two and Graeme and Martin were rock-solid both times out.”
