Wayne Smith and Shaun Simpson take the spoils at Desertmartin

The British Championships went to Ireland on Sunday for round five and although CAS Honda’s Billy MacKenzie may have been utterly dominant thus far, but an injury to his shoulder at the last round of the World Championships would see the reigning champion sidelined for Desertmartin.

With his team-mate Mike Brown parting ways with the squad after the French team, neither class would see the reigning champion representing, and CAS Honda would not be taking part.

In the absence of the black CAS Hondas, Wayne Smith and Shaun Simpson stepped into the breach. For Smith, a win and a second place in the two MX1 motos catapulted him into the top five in the championship, but he didn’t have it all his own way.

Ray Rowson put in an awesome ride to win moto one, the youngster putting in an awesome charge right from the off and edging away to take the win by almost 14 seconds from Smith, who in turn was a mile ahead of James Noble, Tom Church and Mark Jones.

For moto two, Smith was the rider who came out punching, leading from the off. Rowson was soon into second which would have seen him tie for the overall with Smith. But a mishap by the youngster with five laps left dropped him down to fifth, which was still good enough for a superb third overall.

Noble was the man to benefit, in place to take the vacated second place which put him second on the podium, with a quiet Brand Anderson fourth overall and Mark Jones still recovering from injury in fifth.

The MX2 class was a Shaun Simpson benefit as the KTM UK rider led all the way in moto one. Home favourite Martin Barr did his best to keep him honest, the Irishman crossing the line barely a couple of seconds in arrears.

Carl Nunn put in a great ride to come through the pack for third, but Championship leader Stephen Sword, riding in agony with a separated shoulder sustained at the French Grand Prix, rode bravely but struggled, running fifth for most of the race before fading back through the pack to 11th at the flag.

Astonishingly, the Scot not only came out, but he even got a great start in moto two. It’s hard to imagine how painful it must have been, however, as the Molson Kawasaki star faded back to 12th.

Up front, this time Simpson just ran off and hid from the rest of the pack, taking the chequered flag 40 seconds to the good, his brace of wins meaning he would leave the circuit with the red number plate of the championship leader. Martin Barr came home second again ahead of an excellent Neville Bradshaw and Carl Nunn.

Maxxis British MX1 Motocross Championship

Round five – Desertmartin
1 Wayne Smith – Yamaha 
2 James Noble – KTM 
3 Ray Rowson – Honda
4 Brad Anderson – Suzuki
5 Mark Jones – Kawasaki
6 Tom Church – Kawasaki 

Series standings
1 MacKenzie – 200 
2 Noble – 177
3 Anderson – 166
4 Jones – 160 
5 Smith – 157
6 Church – 157

Maxxis British MX2 Motocross Championship

Round five – Desertmartin
1 Shaun Simpson – KTM
2 Martin Barr – Yamaha
3 Carl Nunn – Suzuki

Series standings
1 Shaun Simpson – 207 
2 Stephen Sword – 198
3 Martin Barr – 181