The sun shines as the Kells Road Race makes a welcome return to calendar

And what a return. Fabulous weather, large crowds and some brilliant racing underlined just why the meeting is one of the most popular in the country.

After practice on Saturday the Classic races were run, mainly to allow the Classic guys to head to Mondello for another event that was being run.

Glarryford man Barry Davidson set the fastest lap on his way to a Junior Classic win. On his beautifully prepared 350 Honda Barry was well ahead of Herbie Ronan at the finish.

Emyvale man Freddie Stewart was third. There was nobody in the same league at Robert McCrum in the Senior class. He went ahead from the start, pulling away to win by over 17 seconds. There was a good race for the lower places, involving Richard Ford and Tony Willis. Fordy took the runner up spot by just .4 of a second.

I’m not quite sure why, but the race programme was altered on Sunday morning. The first race of the day was the Supertwins event. Right from the start it was Derek McGee who made all the running. He was chased hard by Conor Behan and Jamie Hamilton. The top three were locked together all the race, and indeed at the line just .7 separated them, as they moved well away from everybody else. In the final couple of laps, both Behan and Hamilton upped their game, with Behan slipping into the lead on the last lap. Hamilton set the fastest lap on his final circuit. Conor Behan, on one of Ryan Farquhars bikes, took the race win, just .4 ahead of McGee, while Hamilton was a further.3 adrift. We had no local representation in this race.

The GP125 and Junior Support non qualifiers class were combined. In the 125 class Sam Dunlop had a start to finish win, but he was hounded all the way by William Cowden.

There was never any more than a second between them as they battled for the entire distance. The top two broke away from Sean O’Neill, who took a lonely third, after Seamus Elliott was sidelined by bike trouble. In the Junior Support race Drogheda’s Charles Halligan took a 2.1 second win over David Smith. Smith was being pushed hard for most of the race by Donnchadh Healy, who finished right in the Kells mans wheeltracks. Again, we had no local riders here.

Mullingar rider Thomas Maxwell was in a class of his own in the Senior Support race. He led more or less from the lights, pulling away to win by 3.1 seconds. Neil Lyons finished in a good steady second place, well ahead of Aaron Hatch. Neil Kernohan was the only local starter here. The Ballymena man took a fighting 5th place on his R6.

Manxman Dan Kneen, riding for the John Burrows team, had a start to finish win in the first Open race of the day. He had a great start, leading Derek McGee at the end of lap one.

Crumlin man Stephen Thompson and Brian McCormack had their chances of a decent result ruined when they both overshot the final bend on the first lap. McGee and Kneen disputed the lead for much of the race, with the Mullingar man taking over at the front in the closing stages of the race. On the last bend, however, McGee slid off his ZX10, while Kneen held on to win by 1.7 seconds. Setting the fastest lap, Michael Sweeney passed Jamie Hamilton near the end of the race, securing a useful second place. Jamie Hamilton was just over a second back in third place. We had two local riders here. Antrim rider Mark Hanna finished in 10th place, while after his first lap detour, Stephen Thompson was 15th.

The Junior Support race was next on the card. On the opening lap Derek Costello led from Tommy Henry and Wayne Hall. I can only imagine that Henry overshot somewhere, as he suddenly slipped down the order, promoting Hall to second place and Coleraines William Hara to third. Once Hall took over in second place he began to make inroads, setting the quickest lap of the race, on the lead that was held by Costello. There was not enough time though, and at the line the Skerries man won by 3.3 seconds. Sean Connolly recovered from a slow start, to go ahead of William Hara in the closing stages of the race. Again, there were no local riders in this race.

Derek McGee led the Supersport 600 race from start to finish. Try as he might, Jamie Hamilton could just not manage to put the Wilson Craig Honda on terms with the man now dubbed the Mullingar Missile. James Kelly, although slightly off the pace, still took a great third place. The best of the two local riders here was Antrims Mark Hanna. He brought his 675 Triumph into 8th place, right on the rear wheel of Conor Behan. Dennis Booth was 15th overall.

The 250GP and SS400 race was next on the card. From the turn of the lights Michael Sweeney and Seamus Elliott were elbow to elbow. Elliott managed to get his nose ahead for a short time, but the Skerries man hit back, winning and setting the fastest lap. Elliott was .7 back at the flag. There was another good dice for third and fourth as well. Armoy man Tommy Henry and John Ella from Drogheda were locked together for most of the race. In the closing stages of the race, Henry slipped by, holding on to take the final podium place by .4. Noel Bertram ran out as the winner of the SS400 category. He managed to pull away from Paul Maguire, to win by 4.4 seconds. The official results give Neil Lyons as third here, but I’m pretty sure they are mistaken. To me it looked like Marty Lyons, on an old FZR400, that was raced a few years back by Paul Truesdale.

Braddan man Dan Kneen, a newcomer to the Kells track, was a start to finish winner of the last race of the day, the Grand Final. Jamie Hamilton had been running in second place, but was pipped by Micko Sweeney, when the Skerries man slipped ahead at about the halfway point of the race. Just .3 of a second separated them at the finish.

The Kells club have, I know, worked tirelessly to make their meeting a success, and that work paid off last Saturday and Sunday. The meeting was brilliantly run, with the 8 race programme being fired through like clockwork. The first race was scheduled to start at 11.15am, and did get under way at 11.35am. Fine, they were helped by the fact that there were no race stoppages, but it’s still good going when you consider the crowds milling about. The roads were opened again at 2.45pm. A definite object lesson to other clubs, who seem to allow everybody and their granny a lap between races. I’m very sure I’m not the only one who is glad to see the meeting reinstated. Very well done to all concerned.