Coagh teen wins Ulster quad biking title on debut

Stewart McMullan, a pupil at Cookstown High School, told the ‘Mail’ he was very happy about winning the junior championship for Ulster at the beginning of October.

The 14-year-old said “a lot of hard work and dedication has went into it, with sacrifices made”.

He had just started training for the event on Easter Monday.

His proud dad Graham said his son beat off much older rivals to clinch the Junior Ulster Championship for United Quad Racing Ireland (UQRI) at the 250cc class.

“He had only started racing back in April. It was his first year so we were hoping he would do okay, but we didn’t expect him to win the whole thing, so he did tremendously well.

“He has had quads from the age of five, just driving round fields and the like, but this was his first year actaully racing.

“I am very proud of him.”

Now Stewart is aiming to keep the title next next year and said he hopes “to move up a class to the 250 raptors and to race Weston beach race in Wales”.

To win this year’s top place Stewart competed against 10 other finalists, and his dad said the person he had beaten into second place was a boy that had already left school.

“He was considerably older than him and he had been racing for years,” Graham added. “So it was quite an achievement to beat him as he is virtually an adult.”