The 2006 Road Race Season got
off to a blinding start on Saturday, with glorious weather,
excellent organisation and awesome racing. The Cookstown
Club provided the platform for Irelands top Road Racers
along with visitors from across the globe to take the
2.1 mile Orritor circuit by storm, in an impressive
display of ultra-quick, extremely close bike racing.
The first Road Race of the year was the Enkalon/Loanends
400cc Support Race and it was a familiar name
at the front as Michael Dunlop blitzed the opposition
from the flag to win by over 22 seconds, finishing first
on the road even though he was in the B Group at the
start. The battle on the road was for the runner-up
spot with English visitor Paul Newton eventually taking
it as he went with Dunlop when he came past the leading
group to pull him clear of Stephen O’Brien, RJ
Woolsey and Sean Leonard who were only a second apart
at the end of a frantic ten laps. Rab Davie completed
the top six a further two seconds back.
Robert Dunlop on his return to the track who led for
the first two laps of the Hayes Fuels 125cc
GP Race, but he was not alone as Nigel Moore,
Michael Dunlop, William Dunlop and Mark Curtin were
right in his wheel tracks. On lap three Moore had taken
over at the front followed by W.Dunlop, M.Dunlop, Curtin
and R.Dunlop who was being forced back due to cut out
problems with his machine. By half distance W.Dunlop
was first on the road and with Moore had put a bit of
time between them and the chasing trio. Behind these
five Adrian Coleman was fending off the close attentions
of Trevor Ritchie on the road and Nigel John on corrected
time. As it headed towards the finish W.Dunlop on the
Durnien.Com Honda put in the fastest lap of the race
to break the opposition and give himself a gap that
he was able to hold to the flag, with Moore again having
to settle for second at Cookstown. It was a close run
thing behind the leaders as R.Dunlop got his problem
sorted and stormed back past Curtin and M.Dunlop on
the final laps to claim a podium finish ahead of M.Dunlop
and Curtin. Ritchie got the better of Coleman on the
final lap to claim sixth with John just behind on corrected
time to complete the top eight.
Lawson Martin/Braeside Bar Open Race A
was to turn out an absolute cracker with the result
in doubt right to the chequered flag. It was circuit
debutant and McAdoo Kawasaki runner Ian Hutchinson who
led the pack into Gortin Corner for the first time,
with Adrian Archibald, Raymond Porter, Martin Finnegan
and John Burrows tight in behind. By the end of the
opening lap it was still the same order with Davy Morgan
on his DMRR Honda Racing Fireblade a hundred yards back.
As the race progressed the front five were inseparable
with Hutchinson under extreme pressure from those behind
with Morgan closing in to make it anyone from six as
the race headed towards a finish. Group B starters Cameron
Donald and Seamus Greene followed the leading six riders
on corrected time, with Paul Cranston and JD Runner
Ken Doherty in tenth. Heading past the last lap flag
down the hill to Gortin corner the front six were still
nose to tail, Hutchinson, Archibald, Finnegan, Porter,
Burrows and Morgan as quick as that with Donald now
knocking on the door of the top six on time. It was
down to braking and Hutchinson got it wrong and ran
too deep, Finnegan tried to outbrake Archibald, got
it wrong and ran too deep.
As Hutchinson and Archibald got themselves corrected
there was contact and Finnegan went down uninjured.
Archibald on the JMF Team Racing Yamaha didn’t
wait to be asked twice and surged through to lead out
of Gortin followed by Porter, Burrows, Hutchinson and
Morgan. On the dash to the flag the leaders had to negotiate
some of the slower runners, but Archibald was not to
be denied and crossed the finish line less than half
a second ahead of Porter and Burrows second and third
respectively. Morgan passed Hutchinson two corners from
home at Orritor Crossroads to claim a fourth with Donald
on the Robinson Concrete Honda coming through to claim
fifth on time ahead of long time leader Hutchinson who
had to settle for sixth. Greene on the Martin Bullock
Suzuki was seventh with the experienced Cranston eighth,
Doherty ninth and 2005 MGP Newcomers winner Tim Maher
in tenth.
TG Black & Son Transport Junior Race
was a three horse race early on with John Burrows, Darren
Burns and Davy Morgan inseparable on their 250cc Hondas.
William Dunlop and Barry Davidson were early retirements
leaving Andrew Courtney, Yarno Holland and Ian Morrell
to battle for the lower leader board positions. By lap
three Morgan led from Burns and Burrows while Holland
was ahead of Courtney who were both pulling away from
Morrell who was having a lonely ride in sixth. On lap
six Burrows was back at the front with Morgan on his
back wheel while Burns retired, Courtney was back ahead
of Holland in third, Morrell was fifth and Phil Archer,
Paul Newton and Kevin Strowger with the demise of Burns
were fighting it out for sixth. Morgan got back into
first and needed a new lap record of 1:32.262, 81.941mph
to hold off Burrows and claim his first win at Cookstown
on the Ballygowan RRSC Honda. Burrows was second, a
further thirteen seconds back was Courtney, who was
now well clear of Holland, Morrell and Newton who got
the better of Archer on the final circuit to claim sixth.
Isle-of-Man visitor Chris McGahan took the honours
on his 350cc Honda in the Cookstown Caravans
250cc/350cc Classic Race, with a massive thirty-five
second victory over Geoff McMullan who took the 250cc
Class victory and a new lap record for the smaller class.
Wattie Brown (350cc) was third; Kevin Strowger (250cc)
was next followed by Robert McCrum (350cc) and RJ Woolsey
(350cc) completing the top six. Peter Wakefield was
third in the 250cc Class and seventh overall.
The Garden World Supersport 600cc Race
saw Ian Hutchinson make up for his earlier disappointment
in the open race with a start to finish win on the McAdoo
Kawasaki, but he did not get it easy and was pushed
all the way to the flag by Raymond Porter, who despite
his best efforts could not find a way past the flying
Englishman. Aussie Cameron Donald further enhanced his
growing reputation in Ireland, and was right with the
leading pair on the opening laps, but he could not match
the pace as the race continued and settled for a safe
podium finish in third. John Burrows continued his impressive
displays with a fourth place finish on the HM Sports
Motorhomes Yamaha. With Darran Lindsay, Ryan Farquhar
and Adrian Archibald non-starters, Davy Morgan having
to retire with handling problems and Martin Finnegan
also having problems it was an opportunity for others
to stake a claim for the leader board. Dwyer Agnew did
just that on Andy McKeown’s Yamaha claiming an
impressive fifth ahead of William Dunlop, Neil McWhirter
and Barry Davidson.
Once again it looks like the 750cc Support Championship
in 2006 will be ultra-competitive if the opening Enkalon/Loanends
750cc Support Race is any sort of guide. In
the early laps it was a five-way scrap with pre-season
favourite Wayne Kirwan, Michael Weldon, Olly O’Connor,
Niall Scollan and Craig Gibson in a high-speed freight
train through the start and finish. As the race progressed
Kirwan and O’Connor were gradually pulling away
from Gibson who was now third ahead of Weldon and Scollan.
Keith Birkhead and Andrew Brady were next on the road,
but Wayne Kennedy from Group B was up to sixth on corrected
time. Kirwan set a new lap record on lap eight, but
it did not break O’Connor who was still in his
wheel tracks and at the finish Kirwan got the verdict
only 0.3 of a second ahead of O’Connor, Scollan
claimed the final podium place ahead of Weldon with
Gibson dropping to fifth after a slight mistake late
on. Kennedy came through in sixth on corrected time
ahead of Birkhead and Conor O’Neill.
The feature race of the day, The Royal Hotel
Cookstown 100 Race saw the big guns take to
the circuit for the second time and again they did not
disappointment with another awesome display of close,
high speed road racing. Ian Hutchinson again got his
Kawasaki off the line quickest and led the leading pack
into Gortin for the third time and this time John Burrows,
Martin Finnegan, Adrian Archibald, Raymond Porter, William
Dunlop and David Morgan were in close attention. It
was much the same for eight laps with Burrows setting
a new lap record along the way and Morgan running wide
and dropping back to twelfth and Cameron Donald up to
fifth on time. On lap ten Burrows took over in front
and was followed through by Finnegan and Archibald with
Hutchinson down to fourth, Porter next and Donald completing
the top six followed by Dunlop and Morgan who had fought
his way back through the field. As they headed on to
the final circuit Burrows and Finnegan could not be
separated, Hutchinson was back to third with Archibald
and Porter now tailing off the leading trio. Finnegan
had it seems everything under control and he passed
Burrows at the bottom of the hill and proceeded to better
the lap record set earlier by over half a second to
due the first sub 1:26 lap around Orritor and claim
victory by just over one second from the man of the
meeting Burrows. Hutchinson came home third to further
enhance his reputation ahead of Archibald and Porter
on the JD Yamaha. Dunlop was next home but had to settle
for seventh as Donald took another top six from Group
B, Morgan was eighth after his earlier excursion, with
Ken Doherty and Dwyer Agnew completing the top ten.
Wattie Brown eventually got the better of comeback
king Robert McCrum in the Hayes Fuels 500cc/1000cc
Classic Race to win by 1.5 seconds. Mark Morgan
led early on, but he was eventually overhauled by McCrum
and Brown; with McCrum holding off Brown until the penultimate
lap when the Scottish visitor set a new class record.
Chris McGahan took third overall and was winner of the
500cc Class, Morgan was fourth, Freddie Stewart fifth
and the second 500 machine and sixth place going to
Anthony Ambler.
In the non-championship “B” races the racing
was just as close and exciting, in the Supervalu
Cookstown 100 B Race, Neil McWhirter eventually
broke the challenge of Barry Davidson to take the win,
with Kenneth McCrea third. Davy Clarke got the better
of a race long duel to claim fourth just ahead of Dean
Cooper and Manfred Vogl. The Bill Eastwood Contracts
Open Race B saw a three way dice from flag to flag on
the road for the honours with Davy Clarke on his HM
Sports Motorhomes entered Suzuki taking the win ahead
of German visitor Manfred Vogl in second and Kenneth
McCrea fourth, as Andrew Neill gate crashed the party
from Group B to claim third with only half a second
separating the four riders at the flag. Keith Birkhead
and Stephen McIlvenna completed the top of the leader
board. Maurice Hogg looked to be heading for victory
in Kildress Joinery & Building Supplies
Supersport 600cc Race B, he led from Group
B from the lights went green until three corners from
home when he slid off without injury, which is more
than can be said for his Yamaha. This left Andrew Neill
to take the number one spot with nine seconds to spare
at the flag over Craig Gibson and his immaculate Leitrim
Construction Yamaha. Balbriggan man Keith Costello came
home a lonely third ahead of Phil Archer, Davy Clarke
and Ryan McCay. Warehouse Direct 750cc Support
Race B was won by Classic specialist Mark Morgan
from Neil Vicars and Glenn Walker on his sweet sounding
DnD Motorcycle Kawasaki eventually saw off William Cowden
to claim a podium finish with David Black and Emyln
Hughes around seven seconds back in fifth and sixth
respectively.
What a start to the season, good weather backed up
by plenty of superb, close, all action racing in all
classes, championship and non-championship alike. There
was some notable performances from a variety of riders
and although John Burrows won the official man of the
meeting award, the RealRoadRacing.Com
Man of the Meeting goes to Ian Hutchinson, who was extremely
impressive on his debut at the Irish National Scene,
which I think we all agree is a bit different from the
North West and Dundrod.
Our final word goes to Ryan Farquhar who had an unfortunate
accident during practice and everyone at RealRoadRacing.Com
wishes Ryan a full and speedy recovery and look forward
to seeing you “between the hedges” ASAP.
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