Lewis ready to move up a gear

His sights were firmly set on winning the 65cc class at this year’s Ulster and Irish Championship, BDMCC (Bushmills District Motorcycle Club), CDMCC (Carrickfergus & District Motorcycle Club) and the MCCNI (Motocross Club of Northern Ireland) GR7 championships when the lockdown led to all sport being postponed or cancelled.

The Whitehead Primary School pupil has been interested in motocross from an early age, as mum Wendy explains.

“Lewis became interested in motocross as a toddler. His dad, Davy, had a KTM in the garage and used to race occasionally and motocross was always on the TV.

“He got his first motorbike aged 3-years old which was a Yamaha Peewee 50 and he got his first KTM 50cc at 4 years of age and he has raced since he was able to at 6.

“Lewis loves motocross because it’s fun, he loves the jumps and he loves the feeling he gets when he does well and wins a trophy.

“He races all over Northern Ireland on varying terrain - from sand, hardpack, grass and barley-stubble tracks.

“His favourite sand track is Desertmartin and his favourite hardpack track is either the recently opened Sperrin Motopark or Tandragee.

“He also really enjoys all the grass and barley stubble championships.”

The McMurtrys are a sporting family. Dad Davy raced motocross in the past and sister Katie (14) is a gymnast and was the 2018 Northern Irish Level 6 Champion.

“Lewis also plays football for the Whitehead Eagles and rides for the Larne East Coast Raiders BMX club.

“He has been spending a lot of his lockdown time in the garden practising his football skills which has helped him to cope with not being able to see his friends,” added Wendy.

“He also joined the Larne East Coast Raiders in 2018 and really enjoys it.

“As well as being fun, BMX racing is also great fitness training for motocross.

“He got some great results in his initial BMX race during 2019, but due to his motocross racing commitments he wasn’t able to focus his attention on it fully the past year. However, he hopes to get back at it once the lockdown restrictions are eased.”

With this season’s racing unlikely to happen, Lewis is already preparing for the 2021 season.

“Since he started racing Lewis has always rode a KTM motorbike and he has rode the KTM 65cc bike for the past two years.

“He was intending on riding it again this season but with the lockdown the chances of any Championships taking place are slim, so we decided to move him up to the larger bike in preparation for next racing season.

“He has just got a new KTM 85cc small wheel to prepare for the 2021 season and will be putting his time into getting used to that bike once he is able to get out training again.

“He really can’t wait to get out onto a practise track to try it out.”

There are no bigger supporters of Lewis than his family, however his mum still feels nervous when her youngest child is on the track.

“As his mum, I was nervous about him being on a motorbike at such a young age as I didn’t know a lot about the sport then and had never seen someone so young on a bike.

“Now I think that being on a bike from a young age has taught Lewis the skills early on and that has allowed him the time to adjust and increase his skill level before moving onto the more powerful and faster bikes.

“His dad was a lot more relaxed back at the start as he was more familiar with the sport having been involved with it a number of years himself.

“I don’t think the nerves will ever go away when Lewis is on the track – no matter what age or how much experience he has.

“The most nervous part of the race for me is when he is lines up on the start line.

“The wait for the gate to drop feels like an eternity, engines revving and focused riders all wanting the same thing.

“That first explosion of all the bikes up the start straight, all racing for the holeshot and coming together in the first corner is nerve wrecking.

“I am only able to relax once I see him cross the finish line and know he is back in safe and sound.”

A move up to the 85cc SW class will provide Lewis with a challenge; however, the youngster whose motocross hero is Jeffrey Herlings, is using time in lockdown to prepare.

“Next season, with it being his first year in the 85cc SW class, he will be gaining as much race experience as he can at a variety of tracks and races run under both the MRA (Motorcycle Racing Association Ireland) and MCCNI (Motocross Club of Northern Ireland),” added Wendy. “We will wait until the start of the season before finally deciding which championships to take on.

“Lewis is extremely sad and disappointed that he hasn’t been able to get out and race due to the lockdown – every good weather day (and there have been a lot) he says what a good day it is for the bike!

“He really misses his bike as at this time of the year he would have been out every weekend competing and practising – it is very much a part of his routine and way of life.

“He has never been off his bike for this long since he started racing at the age of 6 so it’s a very unusual time for him.

“It’s not just the motocross racing he misses but also the great motocross friends that he has from all across Northern Ireland, who he is used to seeing every weekend at the race and practise events.”

Despite only being 11-years old Lewis remains focused and he has been ensuring he will be ready for when racing starts again.

“After having two very successful seasons when he was the 65cc Cadet Ulster Champion in 2018, finished second in the 2019 65cc BDMCC Ulster Stubble and won the 65cc MCCNI Club Championship, 65cc CDMCC Club Championship and 65cc MCCNI Barley Stubble Championship in 2019, Lewis wants to continuing winning,” said his mum.

“For the remainder of this season, Lewis will be getting to grips with his new bigger bike and in the meantime during lockdown he is training at home and taking long cycle rides to make sure he is ‘bike fit’ and ready to hit the ground running.”

THANKS

Lewis would like to take this opportunity to thank his main sponsors for this season - I-mx Motocross Race Parts (imxmotocrossraceparts.com), 2wDistrbution and EKS Brand Goggles.

If you’d like to offer your support to Lewis or follow his future racing endeavours, you can do so via his Instagram or Facebook profile - MXMcMurtry22.