Holmfirth’s Joe Irving has set his sights on winning the Motul Motostar British Championship after a stunning start to the season.

Moving to the Redline KTM outfit for 2014 after impressing last year on the RS Racing KTM with two wins and a hatful of podium’s, Irving moved to the full factory set up in search of the 2014 crown.

And along with that came the pressure, but Irving states there is no pressure on him to bring home the gold.

“There don’t expect me to win the championship but they want me to win the championship,” said the Holmfirth teenager.

“The bike is a lot different this year, last year I had different suspension, brakes and a nearly different engine. The only thing that was the same was the base chassis.

“But we didn’t get much testing in because the bike wouldn’t run properly.”

But during the first round at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, Irving hit the ground running by taking the pole position and the race win.

“We were looking to get top three at a push and to come and win it shocked everybody,” he added.

With now two wins and a third place to his name, Irving sits in second place in the championship on 90 points, the only blip being a DNF at Oulton Park after battling for the lead with rival Jordan Weaving, and Irving feels he’s his only rival for the Motostar crown.

“Third placed in the championship is Jason (Uribe), who has been a little bit out of touch so far, but I think he will there with us at the end and could play a part in me or Jordan winning,” said Irving.

“So we’ve got to keep and eye on him.”

But with his success come rewards and a wildcard in the Moto3 race at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is in the pipeline, and Irving is certainly up for the challenge.

“We applied for a wildcard two weeks ago and we should know very soon if I get accepted, but then we have to go about raising the funds,” he added.

“It’s something I wanted to do last year but we didn’t have the bike, but now Redline have put together a great bike, my main aim is to qualify.

“My best lap time last year would have been good enough to qualify at the GP and was faster than the other two wildcards, so hopefully I shouldn’t be too far back.”

With seven rounds remaining it looks likethe battle is between two riders for the championship and Irving is ready for the battle.

“As the season goes I normally get stronger because my better tracks come along later in the year, Silverstone, Donington and Assen – I’ve got to try and win it and I want to win it.”

Click here to take you back to more Sports news.

Want to read, watch and hear more? You can download the FREE Examiner Apple App here, the FREE Examiner Android App here or you can view the paper as an e-edition on your Apple, Android or Kindle device by clicking here

To follow us on Twitter click here