John Meara victorious at Desertmartin

Loughbrickland’s John Meara powered his Watt motorcycles 450 Kawasaki to victory in the opening Adair Building Services Premier MX1 race and completed a brilliant 2019 Ulster and Irish championship double.

The delighted champion who reflected on a memorable season saying: “It’s been a long time coming but it feels great to be both Ulster and Irish champion. 2016 was the last time I won a title and it was a double back then as well.

“I’m delighted not only for myself but also for everyone who has helped me throughout the season.

“There has been a lot of ups and downs in 2019 but whenever you walk away with two championships you have to say it has been a pretty good season.

“The race itself today was very tough on a tricky track. James (Mackrel) got a great start but he hadn’t been on a bike in a while and I knew he would tire towards the end.

“I just kept nibbling away and passed him with two or three laps to go to win the race.

“It’s always a bonus to win the championship with a race win.”

In the Premier Sports Insure MX2 class it was reigning Ulster champion Glenn McCormick who retained his title on the Unique Fit-Out Husqvarna.

The Glenoe ace finished second in his opening race behind Jake Sherridan and only had to finish race two to retain his title.

He didn’t make it easy with two crashes but in the end it was a relieved champion who pulled into his pit covered in Desertmartin dust.

“It was a frustrating day at times,” said McCormick.

“I was trying too hard and made a few silly mistakes.

“In race one the track was very one line and tight, and although I closed the gap to Jake, the minute I lost all my tear offs the race win was gone.

“I felt I could have won race two overall but as I tried to go around Jake (Sherridan) early on I crashed then I had a coming together with John (Meara) a few laps later and went down again.

“It was nice to get the championship for the team as much as anything as they worked so hard all year.”

With the championship wrapped up McCormick swapped to the 450 Unique Fit-Out Husqvarna for race three and ran out a convincing winner.

“It took a couple of laps at the start to get into the way of the 450 before passing both John Meara and James Mackrel for the lead,” he said.

“I put together a few fast laps, opened a gap and controlled things from the front.

“I think I surprised a few people and it was a nice boost going into the close season,” he added