Spratt and Deazley impress in Aberdeen

OMAGH’S Lewis Spratt and Castlederg’s Erin Deazley enjoyed largely successful weekends at the penultimate round of the Arenacross UK Tour in Aberdeen.

Ten year-old Erin enjoyed her best weekend to date in the series, posting her fastest lap times throughout and claiming a top 10 overall finish after the two races. The St Patrick’s PS pupil was 11th fastest of the AX Mini racers in practice and she improved upon that in qualifying, coming home 10th.

She took a massive step forward in race one, comfortably finishing inside the top 10 in eighth position before taking 11th at the chequered flag following a closely contested second race for ninth overall despite her bike lacking power throughout the day.

“She was flying!,” beamed Erin’s mum, Jolene. “She had a real good weekend. The first race was her best [of the series] and she had her best [lap] times in the live shows.

“It was her best weekend and we had people coming over and saying how well she was getting on, she was getting noticed. She was a wee bit disappointed with the last race, though, but she ended up getting ninth overall, so she’s into the top 10.”

“She looked so comfortable out there and there’s not much between any of them. It was definitely brilliant!”

Fifteen year-old Spratt, meanwhile, who was nursing a sprained ankle, was the fastest AX Futures racer in practice and he went on to qualify third before finishing with two fourth placed finishes that keep him third in the race to Abu Dhabi standings.

“Aberdeen did and didn’t go to plan – you could see the sore ankle was causing him problems from the world go, so it was about staying on, finishing the races and scoring points,” Lewis’s dad Mark explained.

“But he started the day off strong and we were happy to be in contention and after looking at it, he’s still third going into the final round, so he should be OK [to earn a place in Abu Dhabi for the World finals].”

The Omagh High School pupil was competing in considerable pain throughout the trip to Aberdeen where he also hurt his sternum, which he broke two years ago, and if that wasn’t enough, he, his dad Mark and Nathan Green then travelled through the night down through Scotland and England to Hawkstone for the international motocross races the following day when he was to race for Throttle Pulse MX who gave him one of their entries.

After an exhausting journey, which ended at 6.30am, Spratt was on the track less than three hours later on a bike he had never ridden before and even with his injury, he wasn’t to be held back in a hugely competitive class with 45 riders gunning for glory.

Despite the tiredness, lack of knowledge of the bike he was on and the pain he was suffering, Lewis was in contention for pole position for most of qualifying before taking second place in the start gates. He then went on to earn two top 10 finishes – eighth and sixth – before withdrawing from the final race, which was red flagged, due to a clutch issue.

“The journey was tight going, we were all tired!,” exclaimed Mark. “We left Aberdeen at 10 [pm] and we got into Hawkstone at 6.30 [am] and Lewis was on the line for nine!

“He was a bit second hand to say the least but I was happy with top 10 in the first race and sixth in the second race, which was another good performance and his lap times were coming down too.

“It was nice to end the weekend on a high because he was going into Hawkstone second hand, he’d done no preparation for it and he finished ninth overall doing only two races, so we’re happy enough.”

Lewis and Erin will conclude the UK section of the Arenacross World Tour in Manchester on the weekend of February 22nd.