The North Armagh Off Road Section promotion of the opening round of the 2018 Maxxis British Sidecarcross Championship, supported by Lisburn Bitmac & Asphalt, has been given an International boost by the late entry of Dutch Crew Joarno van den Boomen & Kenny van Gaalens, multi European OMBA Champion and a top ten World Championship crew.
Van Boomen has finished as high a fourth in Grands Prix, and his experienced passenger has crewed Koel Hermans and 10 time World Champion Daniel Willemsen at World Championship level.
Their R2R WSP KTM 600 will be an unusual specification for the British Championship as this will be the only right hand chair in the race, but this crew are used to running with left & right hand chairs as this is common in the World Championships.
They will face tough opposition with 18 times British Champion Stuart Brown heading the entry with Joe Millard on board the AMS engine WSP, a change from his usual Zabel two stroke.
Another regular GP runner is Brett Wilkinson and his passenger Dan Chamberlain, mounted on their usual Zabel 700 two stroke WSP, the runner up for the past few years will be hoping for a better day this year in the sand of Desertmartin as he had some bad starts last year.
Local interest centres on Lisburn crews Gary Moulds with new passenger Niki Adair on their CMV AMS 665 supported by local Hillsborough firm Grahams Fit Out, Gary of course, made his debut win here last year with GP passenger Steve Kirwin on board, but new passenger Niki Adair has stepped manfully into the chair, and they currently lie second in the Ulster & Irish Championships although lack of practice over the wet winter may hamper their performance.
Their perennial rival, multi Ulster Champion Neil Campbell with English passenger Craig Parmenter on board will be hoping to repeat Gary’s local win last year, and with 91 Ulster & Irish wins, and an unbeaten run so far, this could be their year on the Lewis Tower Cranes entered, WSP &00 Zabel.
The starts will be crucial over the three races, and there is lots of local talent in the field to make it interesting for the spectators with the Ingram cousins Geoff & David, our only female driver Emma Moulds with her new passenger Alan Gardner and Dean Faulkner & Gordon Ringland all out to use their local knowledge against some of the best in the World.
Racing starts at 11.00 with practice and qualifying from 0900, and Desertmartin Motocross circuit is off the main Desertmartin to Maghera main road and will be signposted, entry is only £5.00 for a day of top class entertainment.