Luke leads Clubmans title chase

EIGHTEEN year old Luke Johnston, from Ahoghill, consolidated his position at the top of the Irish 600 Clubmans championship last Saturday.

A sluggish start in the first race at Bishopscourt saw the local lad with a bit of work to do, but typically, he got his head down and moved up through the field.

With a couple of laps to go he was running in fourth place, but Dundrods Robert Kennedy and Joseph Loughlin, who were running first and second, both slid off. Neither was injured.

It gifted a win to Jason Lynn, who finished 2.3 seconds ahead of Johnston, while Gilford’s Jonny Harvey was third, some 10 seconds back. In the second race, Lynn grabbed another win, this time it was a straight, hard fought for one. Taking .3 of a second off Carl Phillips’ lap record, set in the corresponding meeting last year, Lynn finished almost 3 seconds ahead of Robert Kennedy. Luke Johnston, again, chased Robert hard and was a mere .2 adrift at the end. It leaves the Ahoghill lad 53 points clear of Joe Loughlin in the overall title table.

In the National Superbike races, Lisburns Davy Haire had a double. The first race had to be red flagged after a number of riders slid off at the first right hander. That sorted out, Haire hit the front, and pulled away, registering a race win by 5.7 seconds. Ballymena man Stanley Gamble, who lists former racer Keith Bruce of Tower Cleaning as one of his sponsors, finished as runner up, comfortably ahead of Shane Egan.

Haire was in a class of his own in the second race. He was never hard pressed, winning by 17.6 seconds. Shane Egan finished in second place this time, with Steven Bloomer in third.

Bangor’s Steven Titterington was in fantastic form in the Pre Injection races. In the first race he clipped .034 of a second off Andy Brady’s year old lap record. He won by almost 9 seconds. Alan Graham, from Omagh, finished in second place, with Dromores Jonny Aiken, an ex 350 Clubmans championship winner, in third, just .2 back.

In the second outing, Stevie Titt again broke the record, this time taking a further .2 off the time set in the previous race. He finished 9.4 ahead of Alan Graham with Jonny Aiken third.

Dave Butler took a race win in the first Stock Twins race. He was hounded all the way by Ballymoney man Trevor Elliott, but the Dublin man ran out best by 4.7 seconds. Alistair Knipe, from Seaforde, finished in third place.

In the second race Butler was leading, but began to slow towards the end. Trevor Elliott crossed the line first, but was disqualified. Alistair Knipe was second, but with Elliott’s disqualification, he was promoted to the winner. Butler was just .5 back at the end in second place, while Ards man Craig Ringland finished third.

Kia McGreevy took a double in the GP125 Newcomers race.

Quite simply, there was nobody else in the same league as the Ballynahinch lad. He finished 26.5 seconds ahead of Kyle Cross with Sammy Bentley third. Run along with the GP bikes, the SS400 Newcomers went to Peter Fletcher. Angela Kernohan, from Antrim, was the second 400 and Michael McKerr third.

In the Aprilia class what can anyone say about Kevin Keyes? He has won every race he has finished all year. On Saturday the first outing saw the Co. Offaly based lad almost 14 seconds ahead of Aaron Clifford, while Thomas McAdoo was third.

In race two Kia McGreevy again won, while Sammy Bentley took second. Peter Fletcher again grabbed a win in the SS400 race, this time from Mark McBurney and Angela Kernohan. Kevo Keyes had a 9.5 second win in the 125 Production race. Thomas McAdoo took second and Antrims Luke Hazlett third.

James Conroy had no equals in the Classic races. The Comber rider finished over 13 seconds ahead of Glarryford man Barry Davidson, while Jonny Doran took third place. Jonny Doran pushed young Conroy in the second outing, but James had it covered, finishing 1.2 in front. Pete Simpson, who was the first 500 home in both races, finished in third place here.

According to the results, Barry Davidson was a non starter, and I suspect that Bishopscourt was a shakedown for Armoy, after the bike gave Barry problems at Walderstown the previous weekend.

Run concurrently with the Classic races, Stanley Gamble was a double winner in the Forgotten Era class. In the first race he pulled away from Mark McClenaghan to win by 14.4 seconds, with McClenaghans brother Stephen in third place. Gamble won the second race, this time by a slightly reduced margin of 13.3 seconds. The McClenaghan brothers and Ross Crymble had a great race, with Mark taking second place, just .6 ahead of Crymble, who was a similar distance ahead of Stephen.

Marty McCloy won both Non Qualifiers races. The first from Robert Cairns and Paul Fallon and the second from Dean Fishbourne and Cairns.

Good weather, a bit of a novelty recently, made for a brilliant, record breaking days racing. I’m not too sure of the actual number of riders, but it had to be about 150. Despite starting a bit later than apparently planned, racing was done and dusted shortly after 5pm, a testament to the good organisation of the Temple club and Roy Bickerstaff, the Clerk of the Course for the day.

Sadly, it looks like Clubmans will be consigned to the history books next year. Indeed, that could well have been the last ever Clubmans only meeting in the North, as the next one will be combined with ISB. The Clubmans series has brought people like Adrian Coates, Barry Davidson, Rikki McCready and countless others through. Many of them becoming household names.

ENKALON/LOANENDS SUPPORT CHAMPIONSHIP

After 4 rounds of the Loanends championship, it would seem that Ballymoney man Rodney Patton has the series tied up.

He has 146 points, giving him a 54 point advantage over Coleraine’s William Hara. With 25 points for a win and two rounds left to go, it’s not mathematically possible for Hara to win. Even if Patton didn’t race and Hara won both races, the Ballymoney man would still take the championship by 4 points. Sitting in third place, with 81 points, Magherafelt man Ronnie Scott is 3 points ahead of his dad George.

Portglenone man Robert Gordon is fifth on 72 and Alan Kenny, from Co. Cavan, is sixth on 61.

The final two rounds are at Armoy, this weekend, and the Dundrod National races on the Thursday of Ulster Grand Prix Week.