Double for Dunlop at Tandragee

Despite some of the practice having to be held under controlled conditions, due to rain and high winds, the day’s racing was one of the best I have witnessed in quite a few years.

Dunlop, who was a late entry for the meeting, won both Superbike races, and a near dead heat in the Supersport 600 race, involving Wayne Kirwan and Michael Pearson.

After the parade laps had to be red flagged due to a crash, racing got under way over half an hour later than planned. Right from the start of the opening Superbike race it was pretty much game over as Michael Dunlop hit the front and was never seriously challenged, eventually winning by over 16 seconds.

The main focus of attention was on the dice for runner up, involving Michael Pearson and Banbridge rider Shaun Anderson. Anderson was just over 2 seconds back at the finish, but I can’t help feeling that another lap would have made a difference.

There were only 2 local riders in race. The best of them was Stephen McIlvenna. Better known as Jack, the Randalstown man was 17th, having a fastest lap of just over 98mph. Dennis Booth was 21st, lapping at 96.3mph.

Antrim’s Mark Hanna, riding the Emerald Road Racing ER6, took a start to finish win in the Junior Support race. Despite never having raced a Supertwin bike before, the local rider hit the front from the start, holding on to take the race win by 1.5 seconds.

Gavin Lupton, better known as Luppy, brought a similar bike into second place. Riding for Davy McCartney and Seamus Dobbin, two local men who run S&D Racing, Lupton was the only other rider in any kind of contention for the race win. RJ Woolsey, who was Clerk of the Course at Tandragee last year, finished over 30 seconds back in third place.

The only local rider we had here was Mark Hanna, who set the fastest lap of the race at 94.9mph.

Michael Dunlop sat out the Supersport 600 race, but despite that, it was certainly the race of the day with the closest finish.

From the start Derek Sheils, Michael Pearson and Derek McGee were elbow to elbow. Wayne Kirwan recovered from a slow start and soon joined in with the action. Sheils crashed out on the penultimate lap at Castle Corner, luckily without injury. By this time Kirwan had made his move for the front and was shadowing Pearson.

The Lisburn rider might have been excused for thinking he had the race won, but as they came to lap Scott Preece at the final turn Drogheda man Kirwan got the better line and drove out of Bells Crossroads to take the race win by .003 of a second. McGee, even though he set the fastest lap of the race, had to settle for third place, 1.4 back.

After the race last year’s Manx Grand Prix winner Kirwan dedicated the race win to his former team boss John Donnan, who died at Tandragee in 2007. Jack McIlvenna was again the best of the locals, in 16th place having a fastest lap of 99.1mph. Dennis Booth finished in 19th with a quickest lap of 97.5mph. Ballymena’s Sam Wilson was listed as a retirement completing 2 laps but still managing to circulate at 94.2mph.

Next up was the combined Classic race, with 4 classes running together. John Scott was the early leader, but before long Robert McCrum moved ahead, leaving big Scotty to settle for second place. The Carryduff man was 18 seconds adrift at the flag with Stroud man Bob Price a distant third. Manxman Allan Brew was the best of the 500’s well ahead of John Pemberton and Sam Kinkead.

The 350 class provided a great battle between Glarryford man Barry Davidson and Sean Leonard. Barry took the category win, by just .5 of a second, while Scotlands Davie Hastings was third. Phil Shaw had an easy win in the 250 class. The only local rider we had here was Barry Davidson, who in winning the 350 class, finishing in 5th place on the road, lapped at 84.5mph.

The combined Moto3/GP125 and SS400 race was next on the card. Originally from Cullybackey, but now living in Ballymena, Sam Wilson was another rider who recovered from a slow start and came through to take a race win, this time in the GP125 race.

Paul Robinson, on his little Aprilia, was the early leader, but Wilson kept the pressure on, eventually going ahead and holding on to win by 7.2 seconds. Nigel Moore finished in third place, although he was far from outpaced by the top two. Sam Wilson was the only rider from this area in the GP race. His fastest lap was the quickest of the race, at 95.2mph.

Gavin Lupton took his S&D Racing backed Honda to a race win in the SS400 class. He was pushed hard by Skerries man Andy Farrell, but Luppy took the win, by just .1 of a second. After a nasty fall at Cookstown the previous weekend, when the engine of his Kawasaki exploded at over 100mph, Kesh man Paul Maguire, still in pain from the crash, finished in third place, although well back of the leaders. The Moto450 race went to Seamus Elliott. The Ballymoney rider was 26.6 seconds ahead of Paddy McColgan with big Dave Walsh in third place.

James Kelly is a lad I have mentioned a few times here, as someone worth watching. That was underlined on Saturday when he took a win in the Senior Support race.

The Cavan rider was the only man to break a lap record on Saturday as well, shaving almost half a second off the record set in 1999 by the late Victor Gilmore. He set the quick time on the fourth lap of five in trying to make a break on Gavin Lupton, dropping the Yorkshire man by 9.8 seconds.

One of Ryan Farquhar’s new signings, Conor Behan, finished in third place, right in the wheel tracks of Lupton, although it’s worth mentioning that every track that Behan visits this year will be his debut. Farquhar, incidentally, took part in the parade laps on Saturday on Jamie Hamiltons bike.

The Supertwins race, combined with the GP250’s gave Jamie Hamilton a race win. Kilreas William Davison hounded Hamilton all the way, but just didn’t have the outright speed to make any kind of move on the Ballyclare rider. At the end Hamilton took the race win, by 2.6 seconds, while Skerries man Andy Farrell was a distant third.

William Dunlop took an easy win in the 250GP race. He was pushed for a while by Sam Wilson, but the local rider retired in the final lap due to a broken chain. Riding a 250 Honda for John Burrows, Michael Sweeney finished in 2nd place, well ahead of Brian Mateer.

Michael Dunlop cleared off and won the final race of the day at his leisure. The results gave the difference as 26.3 seconds, which averages at 3.7 seconds per lap he was faster than anyone else! Despite falling heavily in the earlier Supersport 600 race, Derek Sheils fought hard with Michael Pearson, holding off the Lisburn man by just .3 of a second at the finish. Jack McIlvenna was the only local finisher. Vastly underpowered on his R6, he still managed to lap at over 99mph, taking a very creditable 13th place.

As I said before, it was a brilliant day’s racing and Clerk of the Course Anne Forsythe and her team worked hard to deliver a fantastic day’s sport.

Friday brought the promised rain, which turned the paddock into a quagmire. Indeed, some of the practice had to be run under controlled conditions. First thing on Saturday, the parade laps had to be red flagged due to an accident when Gerry Larkin dropped Stephen Beattie’s Triumph. He has a broken leg, but is otherwise fine.

That put the club on the back foot, but as a team they worked great, and the days racing was cleared up before 6pm. Anne has told me that this year was a one off for her, but hopefully she might be talked into staying on, even if it’s only to prove that the best man for a job is a woman. Well done to all concerned, and again, congratulations to Annes parents Ian and Averil, who celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on Saturday.

NORTH WEST SUPPORTERS CLUB

As normal about this time of the year, I have had a letter from Laurits Mackness, in relation to the North West 200 Supporters Club. It has to be said that in the letter he paints a grim picture of the club’s future.

The club is being run by just 2 people and unless they get a few more members who are prepared to take an active role in the running of the club, it is going to be forced to discontinue its association with the race.

Club membership has been increased this year to £10, while the race package has been pegged at £35. For this you get club membership, a race programme and a paddock pass. Anyone who would be willing to help with the clubs day to day running can get in touch with Laurits on 028 2827 5781.

PETER ON HIS OWN

Many people will remember Peter Heijmans and Niklas Pffiefer, who both raced here over the past year.

Peter is set to race the North West, but due to a terrible set of circumstances he is being forced to travel on his own. Niklas and his wife Klaudia have lost their new baby, little Aedan, to cot death. Obviously Niklas does not now want to travel, but has asked that Peter come and race in Aedans memory. Peter will have to travel by himself, however.

He is in desperate need of someone to give him some help, with general pit duties, like tyre warmers, scrutineering bikes etc. The person would need to have some experience with bikes and be trustworthy. Peter can be contacted on [email protected]

Roy Adams