UK (4/13/2010)
- After a long winter in preparation for the
2010 race season, Comber rider Justin Reid and
the newly formed Justwin Racing team travelled
to the outskirts of Desertmartin recently, Ballymoney
& District MCC promoting the
opening round of the six round 2010 Nutt Travel
Ulster Premier Quad Championship at the spectacular
Grand Prix circuit at Porters Pit on Saturday
the 3rd of April.
Despite heavy rain and snow in the week prior
to the event threatening to postpone the meeting,
the sand-based circuit held up well in less
than optimum conditions to provide the large
crowd in attendance with some exciting racing
throughout the day.
Taking part in his first competitive Championship
action of the year, Reid was quick to show
that his pre-season preparations had not suffered
adversely from an eight week layoff with a
broken Scaphoid, taking the Justwin Racing
Can-Am DS450 Xmx to 3rd fastest time in qualification
just five hundredths of a second off pole.
Getting good drive off the line for the first
twenty minute plus one lap moto, Reid gated
5th around the sweeping right hander and immediately
began to work his way through the pack, moving
up to 3rd as he broke the timing beam for
the first time. Pushing hard in the difficult
conditions and battling for the lead, Reid
moved up to 2nd with just over five minutes
gone and was well placed for the lead when
disaster struck, the left front wheel catching
a soft patch on one of the fastest parts of
the circuit and pitching the quad sideways,
Reid battling to save the situation but unable
to do so and taking a nasty spill. Working
furiously to pull his quad from a deep drainage
ditch alongside the circuit, Reid lost two
laps to the lead before getting underway in
25th position, but showing true guts and determination
battled through to 20th at the chequered flag
for an all important championship point.
A fantastic start to the closing race of
the day saw Reid take the holeshot and lead
the field out on the first of twelve flying
laps. Quickly finding his rhythm and setting
a blistering pace at the front, Reid became
involved in a three way battle for the lead
and held position until the halfway point,
moving in to 2nd with the three becoming two
in the latter stages, Reid pegging the gap
to the leader to two seconds as he pulled
a twenty second lead over 3rd, taking the
Justwin Racing Can-Am DS450 Xmx to the chequered
flag after twenty-two furious minutes for
a superb podium finish and 9th overall on
the day.
"Although I've been training hard, the
weather conditions haven't allowed for much
riding in the last couple of weeks, in fact
it's a wonder that there was racing at all
here today, so I definitely felt a little
rusty. The club however did a fantastic job
to make it happen. The fall was totally my
fault in the first moto - the track was just
very hard to read and I got sucked into a
soft patch and over corrected slightly.
I really should've won the second moto but
I was a little tentative after the fall in
the first so I'm happy enough with the points
for second." Said Reid.
|
2010
Nutt Travel Ulster Premier Quad Championship
Round 1 |
|
Race One
1st - David Wray
2nd - Michael McAneney
3rd - David Cowan
4th - Jonny Kelly
5th - Terence Mackin
20th - Justin
Reid (Can-Am)
|
Race
Two
1st - David Cowan
2nd - Justin Reid
(Can-Am)
3rd - Sean Goss
4th - David Wray
5th - Jonny Kelly |
Championship
Standings after Round 1 (1 of 6) |
