MX Nationals- Round 7 Preston Docks 2017
Verde Racing News | 11/09/2014
MX Nationals - Round 7 Preston Docks 07/09/14
MX Nationals came to Lancashire this weekend at our home track, Preston Docks. Verde were looking forward to seeing their Bolton bred rider, Mathew Callaghan perform on the sandy track.
Disaster struct on the Saturday, the paramedic team had messed the dates up and thought the event was only running a Sunday schedule. So with no medical team at the track racing for the day had to be cancelled. But the MX Nationals organisers made the best out of a bad situation and rescheduled the program, shipped in some stand by assistance and ran each group with a practise session and timed Qualifying.
Qualifying :
The track was prepped well and created a extremely close qualifying session. Just 1 second between 12th and 5th place, with the top few european riders pulling a extra second or two ahead in the top 5 places. Matty rode well, but just struggled on one particular corner each lap that made him lost his rhythm. He gain 11th place in the session meaning he could get a pretty good gate pick for Sundays racing.
Race 1 :
A mid pack start showed a promising race ahead. Mathew rode hard on this narrow track, sitting in 12th position and closing in on the pack ahead with the next 4 riders just in site. he then made a small mistake , the back end tucked while going over a jump and he fell off loosing a lot of time and picking it back up in 14th place. Evan though he knows the track well, he didn't have enough time to pull back and catch back up to where he was.
Overall :
Mathew finished in 14th place overall for the day, which didn't stand too bad. But on a track he knows and loves we all expected a top 10 result with ease, so all in all a little disappointing. Most other local riders also struggled with there weekend, its hard to get your head around racing/finding time on a track that you know so well. It's sometimes more of a hindrance then a help having the local knowledge. More time on the bike during the week is essential now to move up to the next level and compete with this difficult MX2 class.
Quote from Adrain Kirk :
Mathew gives it his all on the day but needs to get a lot more riding done during the week to compete in these 25 minute plus 2 lap races. We know he can achieve a top 10 position but following his injuries earlier in the year, a lot more bike time is required to catch up to where we know he should be.
Quote from Matty Callaghan :
Disappointed! One mistake is all it takes to ruin the whole race and loose so many places. Not how I wanted my day to go, but we will work hard to get ready for the last few races of the season.
Verde Racing News | 11/09/2014
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