Joe Clayton had a dream weekend in Belfast. Not only did he win both races of the pro lite class to extend his championship lead, he also qualified for the 450 main event and beat MXGP rider Evgeny Bobryshev in the head-to-head to do it!
“The weekend was awesome,” enthused Clayton at the end of Saturday night’s racing. “Going 1-1 in the pro lites, my championship was good then to get into the 450 main from head-to-head was awesome, so much fun!
With regards to beating Bobby, Clayton said he knew he had to be aggressive straight away or it would be coming back to him! “I knew he was a big guy so I thought I had to get it done straight away otherwise he would come back and get me! I have been working on my starts a lot this week so I knew I could do them pretty good it was just the long straight and that’s where they got away.”
And what of his experience with the pros? “It was really good, they just went so fast from the word go – it was crazy. admitted Joe. “I had done a lot of riding and towards the end I thought, ‘ I need a drink!’ But no, it was good, I really loved it.”
Clayton admits he loves the indoor racing more than outdoors because of the technical aspect it requires: “I practice it a lot, I like to make that my main thing really, I like the technical side of it with the jumps and whoops, this is my favourite.” he explained.
Clayton’s smooth technical is indeed perfect for the indoor events, and even when he got a bad start in the Pro Lites class he showed he could work his way back to the front on his Kawasaki. And with his skills, it will be interesting to see how Clayton will do when he moves to the 450 class and competes against the big boys – but this time without a power disadvantage!
One this is for sure, he won’t be intimidated!
Words: Jonathan McCready
Pic: Nigel McKinstry
