Local riders suffer setbacks

THE latest round of the Irish Clubmans championship threw up a few surprises at the weekend.

Even before the racing started, Ahoghill's Luke Johnston ruled himself out by breaking a collarbone when falling from his mountain bike.

Luke, a front runner in the GP125 Newcomers series, fell from his bike during the week, when out for an excercise ride. The injury looks like keeping him out for about 6 weeks.

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Sam Wilson led the first race from the start, but the Ballymena rider, who was riding the ex Michael Dunlop D&G Wray Honda, slid off the bike at half distance, causing the red flags to come out.

On the re-start there was a great race between Jason Lynn and Conor Parkhill. Young Parkhill just couldnt match Lynn for speed, with the Upperlands rider clearing off, to win the two part race by 8.6 seconds. Jason Lynn shattered Paul Jordans 5 year old lap record, slicing 1.2 seconds off an already impressive time. Lynn took the win, by 1.2 seconds from Parkhill, while Nigel Parks finished in third place.

The result was the same in the second race, but this time after a fantastic race, there was just 1.8 separating the top two. Run concurrently, the first Production 125 race was won by Ballynahinch lad Korie McGreevy. He finished 12.4 ahead of Conal Kavanagh, while Aaron McBride took third, right in Kavanagh's wheel tracks.

McGreevy retired in race two, stopping on the second lap at Colonials, leaving Aaron McBride to take the win. Conal Kavanagh was second, and the only other rider to finish on the same lap as McBride. Dromore lad Reece Davidson was third, lifting, from memory, his first ever trophy.

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Lisburn's Timmy Elwood took a great double in the Supersport 600 races. In the first, which was run in two parts, Elwood was never under any meaningful pressure, as he won by 6.5 seconds. Sean Hurley, the championship leader, finished in second place, while Carl Phillips was third. It was again Elwood in the second race, with Hurley second. This time Nico Mawhinney was third.

Paul Dornan's championship hopes took a knock when he was forced out of the second race in the Senior class. After taking a win in the first race, from Daniel O'Connell, by just .1 of a second, with Anthony Rogan third, Dornan was listed as a retirement in the second outing. It gave Rogan the race win, while O'Connell again took second. Banbridge's Rodney Singleton was third.

There was the same top three in both Pre 97 races, where Alan Kenny again took a double. Kenny, in the 10 races held up until now, has won every race he finished. Nine wins from ten starts, and one non finish. In the first race he was 4.8 seconds ahead of James McCann at the line, with Melvin Hollingsworth third. There was the same result in race two, with McCann finishing just 1.1 seconds off the pace this time.

While I admit Classics might not be everyone's idea of good racing, we were treated to two record breaking races in this class. In the first race, James Conroy, on a 350 Honda, broke the class record to beat off the 1000cc Weslake of Robert McCrum. There was 1.4 separating these two at the flag, while Eanie Horan was almost the proverbial country mile back in third.

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Barry Davidson broke the 250 record, while James Conroy did likewise with the 350 class and Robert McCrum the 1000cc. In the second race, McCrum exacted his revenge on Conroy, winning by 4.6 seconds. After a retirement in the first race, James Conroy’s dad Alex kept his 500 Honda running to take a third place. At the end of the day, the 1000cc record, previously held by Philip Riddall on the late, and very much lamented, Cecil Cairnduff's, Weslake had been lowered 1.7 seconds by McCrum. In the 350 class, James Conroy had dropped his own record by just over a second. Barry Davidson took 1.2 of a seconds off the 250 class record he already held on Sammy Dempsters 198 Honda.

Kirk Jamison came from behind in the first Open national outing. He passed and pulled away from Skerries man Michael Sweeney, with Wayne Kirwan taking third, about 5 seconds back. The second race was a good close encounter. Sweeney ran out as winner, with Wayne Kirwan second and Gary Jeffers third. Just .6 of a second separated the top three.

The feature race of the day, in my opinion, was a bit of a flop. It was won by Keith Meere, by over 7 seconds. Joseph Loughlin was runner up, while in third place Anthony Rogan was the best of the Senior riders. I’m not too sure how the riders were selected for this one, but it was far from the exciting. In previous years it had been the fastest riders from the classes, but one rider, who didn’t finish the first of his races, and was 18th in the second race was able to start. A bit surprising, to say the least.

In all a good day’s racing with great weather.

MID-ANTRIM SUMMER TRIAL

The Off Road motorcycle section of the Mid Antrim Motor Club Ltd will be promoting their summer trial at Ballynulto Quarry this Saturday thanks to the generosity of J Stevenson & Sons Ltd of Clinty Quarry.

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This venue is just off the main road from Broughshane to the Battery and it will be well sign posted from the main Ballymena to Larne road.

The venue has proved very popular with easy access, good paddock parking and most importantly a good variety of sections for all grades. The event starts at 11-30am. Thanks go to Stevenson family for the use of the venue.

This closed to club trial will be a counting round in the MCUI (UC) summer series and is open to all grades.

It is also the second round of the Michelin – Mid Antrim Club Championship 2010. The championship standings after the first round are attached with the club championship rules.

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Regulations and entry forms are available on the usual web sites including www.mamc-bikes.co.uk or from the event secretary Laura Dickey.

ISLE OF MAN TT

The Isle of Man TT is now well under way, and as usual, Irish riders are performing well. By the time you read this there will have been another couple of races, with the Supersport A race as well as the Superstock scheduled for Monday.

On Saturday, after a mist delayed start, racing got away with Ian Hutchinson lifting the first race win, the Superbike. He took the win from Michael Dunlop by some 33 seconds, while Cameron Donald about 10 seconds back of Dunlop in third. Pre race favourite John McGuinness was sidelined when a crankshaft sensor on the Honda developed a fault. McGuinness was able to tour, but not to rev the engine over 6 or 7,000 rpm.

The Irish contingent performed as follows! Adrian Archibald took 5th place, while Ryan Farquhar rode through handling diffuculties to claim 10th place. Saintfield man Davy Morgan finished in 14th place, John Burrows 16th, Alan Connor 37th. Crumlin man Stephen Thompson, a TT Newcomer, took a very creditable 39th place, and claimed the final Bronze replica. Another Newcomer, Brian McCormack, finished in 40th place, and missed out on the bronze replica by a few seconds.

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In the sidecar class, also held on Saturday, Klaus Klaffenbock became the first non Manx winner since Davy Molyneux and Nick Crowe started their domination of the class in 2003. Klaffi, from Austria, with Dan Sayle in the chair, took the race win form Dave Molyneux/Patrick Farrence. Running a Kawasaki engine this year, as opposed to their normal Honda, Moly was always dropping time, and it took an almost superhuman final lap to get them back up into second place.

At the start of the last lap they trailed Reeves/Chaughan by well over 10 seconds, and had that reduced to 2.64 seconds at the flag. Tim Reeves/Dipash Caughan were third. The chairs have their final race on Wednesday.

THIS WEEKEND

This weekend’s short circuit event at Bishopscourt has been posponed, due to circuit re surfacing. It’s hoped that the circuit alterations will be completed shortly, and that the event can be run at a later date.