The penultimate round of the British MX Nationals at Preston Docks in Lancashire meant the return of Heads & All Threads Suzuki’s MX1 rider Graeme Irwin, who promptly rocketed to second overall on the weekend.

The sand track facility on the River Ribble turned out to be technical and tough on Sunday morning.

Racing on the weekend was delayed by some technical issues that prevented any races from being held on Saturday, leaving Irwin with only a qualifying session late on Saturday and the traditional two races on Sunday. Qualifying proved to everyone that Irwin was well and truly back, as he put in a time nearly two seconds faster than his compatriots.

Racing on Sunday morning got off to an excellent start.

After grabbing the holeshot, Irwin quickly found himself in the lead, where he proceeded to build a substantial gap between himself and the rest of the competition; he would win by over six seconds.

The second race on the weekend had Irwin around the first corners in third. After eventually getting past his rival in front of him, he set his sights on the leader, Husqvarna’s Nathan Watson, only to become a target himself. A duel between him and Kawasaki’s Gert Krestinov ended with him back in third, only to go down whilst attempting a pass back for second.

Quick reflexes had Irwin back on the bike with only one position lost, ending the race in fourth for a second place on the weekend.

“Free practice on Saturday was good, I was a second or two quicker than everyone else, qualifying on Saturday was also looking good, with pole,” said Irwin.

“The first race on Sunday, got a good start, the holeshot, and walked away with it really. I just rode my own race, in the first few laps pushed hard and then just rode steady the rest of it, when the hard work was done. The second race was the total opposite, I got boxed in, got up to third and then couldn’t get by Elliott for a couple of laps.

“I finally got by him, thought I’d go for Watson, but he was riding really well. Then three laps from the end, Krestinov got by me and we swapped back and forth and it looked like it was going to be a battle to the flag, but then I just tucked the front, a silly mistake, I just tried to square him up and yeah … I went down.

“I got back up and was fourth, right in front of Whatley, and stayed at a steady pace to bring home fourth. I’m happy with this weekend, it’s my first race back after my big crash at Cusses Gorse, so it’s good to be back on the pace, and hopefully I can end the season on a high as well.”

British MX Nationals MX1

1. Nathan Watson (Husqvarna) 47, 2. Graeme Irwin (Suzuki) 43, 3. Kristian Whatley (Yamaha) 36, 4. Elliott Banks-Browne (Honda) 33, 5. Martin Barr (KTM) 30, 6. Brad Anderson (Honda) 29, 7. Ashley Wilde (Honda) 28, 8. Gert Krestinov (Kawasaki) 25, 9. Jamie Law (KTM) 25, 10. John Adamson (KTM) 21.

British MX Nationals MX1 Championship

1. Nathan Watson (Husqvarna) 445, 2. Kristian Whatley (Yamaha) 400, 3. Brad Anderson (Honda) 346, 4. Graeme Irwin (Suzuki) 299, 5. Gert Krestinov (Kawasaki) 274, 6. Jamie Law (KTM) 262, 7. Elliott Banks-Browne (Honda) 218, 8. Shane Carless (Kawasaki) 217, 9. Tony Craig (Honda) 206, 10. Ashley Wilde (Honda) 158

Words and photos courtesy Stefan Paetow