Tragic finale to road racing season

Sunday's final race meeting of the 2010 season was blighted by the death of one of our most popular riders, when 42 year old Victor Gilmore died as a result of a high speed crash.

His death brings to 5 the number of riders killed in Ireland this year. Three on roads and two on short circuits. I will have further mention of Victor later.

The first race of the day was for Junior Classic bikes. Originally scheduled to be held on Saturday, immediately after practice, the race was moved to Sunday due to the organisers running out of time on Saturday evening. Sean Leonard was the leader at the end of the first lap, but he was being hard pressed by Ed Manley Jnr. Manley went ahead, but could make no meaningful break. Manley held on to take the race win by just .2 of a second, with Manxman Allan Brew finishing in third.

William Dunlop took a fairly untroubled win in the 250 race. There's little doubt that the fact that Paul Robinson seemed to be having bike trouble made Dunlop's life just that bit simpler, but 6.5 seconds behind William, Wayne Hamilton, Barry Davidson and former title holder Darran Burns were having a great race,

Hamilton got the drop on the other two, while Davidson pipped Burns by .3 of a second to grab the final step on the podium. Unfortunately I don't have the proper race results, so I can't tell you the local men's fastest laps, as I normally do.

Overcoming a slow start, Sligo man Richard McLoughlin took a fine win in the Senior Support race. Former BSB rider Paul Barron was the early leader, but gradually slipped back. David Yeomans, who lives almost within earshot of the circuit, moved into second place, but by then there was nothing he could do about McLoughlin, who finished .4 of a second ahead. barron was third.

The Open championship race was next up. For the first couple of laps Ryan Farquhar had a hard time with Michael Dunlop, but the Killyman rider soon made a break and held on to take his first win of the day. Dunlop managed to hold off a determined Derek Shiels for runner up. Jack McIlvenna was 21st, four places ahead of Kells' Dennis Booth.

John Burrows was the early leader of the Senior Classic race, but the Dungannon man retired, gifting the lead to Neill McWhirter. He had moved ahead of John Scott, after recovering from a slow start. Big John, who finished his warm up lap with a big sod hanging on his boot after catching a bank, finished second. Gary Jamison was third, and pretty lucky with it. He had been spotted with a smoking engine, and had been reported as having been losing oil.

The ill fated 600 race, on the restart, gave a win to Ryan Farquhar. He was pushed hard by William and Michael Dunlop, but the brothers could do nothing with the flying Farquhar. At the line William was within .07 of Ryan, with Michael .4 back. Jack McIlvenna was the only local finisher here, the Randalstown man taking 18th place.

After his second place in the Senior Support race earlier, David Yeomans was in no mood for anything less than a win when he lined up for the Junior Support. He blasted his 250 Honda away, and never looked back, winning by 6.6 seconds. Yomo, who lives in nearby Skerries, beat Tom Llewelyn back to second, while Drogheda bike dealer Ronan Pentony was third.

The Grand Final was moved forward, and not unexpectedly, featured Ryan Farquhar and the Dunlops. Farquhar took the win, but by the time he crossed the line, he was elbow to elbow with Michael Dunlop. The official time difference was .07 of a second. Derek Shiels and William Dunlop had a good race, that ended with Dunlop getting the drop on Shiels by .1 to take third place on the road.

The 125/Moto450 race was red flagged on the second lap when Wayne Kennedy fell on the approach to Man O War corner. Wayne was taken to hospital for a check up, but wasn’t too seriously injured.

By then the news had filtered back to the paddock that Victor Gilmore had passed away, and the decision was taken to abandon the rest of the meeting.

For the record, Sam Dunlop was given as the winner, just .4 ahead of Paul Robinson. Wayne Kennedy was third, ahead of the first Moto450 ridden by Ryan Farquhar. Jeff Shaw was the only local man here, in 7th place. A sad end to what, until then, hadn’t been a bad day’s racing. Despite losing a fair bit of time, the club had almost got back on schedule.

MID ANTRIM TRIAL

The Mid Antrim club held their Ulster Youth Championship and Open Adult trial at Shilnavogy Road near Broughshane on Saturday.

Obviously, with Killalane on as well, I couldn’t be there, so my thanks to Laura Dickey for sending me the results.

The combined Grade A&B class was won by Jonny Lunney. The Gilford teenager finished on 38, four marks better than Andrew Gault. Robert McCrory was third on 62.

In Grade C, John Heenan took the win, going down 35 marks. Gareth Mackey came home in second place, dropping 38, while in third place, on 55 was Aaron Smyth. Colin Stewart was the clear winner of the Grade D category. He went down 9 marks, while it took a tie breaker to sort out second and third. George Smyth and Geordie Robinson both finished on 13, but Smyth, with 31 cleans as opposed to 29, got the verdict.

Chris Brown was the overall Youth A winner. On 16, he was 5 marks better than Stuart Hanlon, while Ryan Dempster was third on 42. The B Grade went to Ashley Turner, on 5. Alex Lennox, on 16, was 3 marks better off then third placed Kyle Turner.

Frasier Morrison was the C Grade winner, dropping 12 marks. In second position was Reece Gazzard, 26, and third was George Taylor on 70. Stuart Tweedy won the D Grade on 58, while in second place, Ross Morrison lost 71. Andrea Woodside took third on 142.