Martin dominates
the Gold Cup meeting with seven wins from seven starts
Guy Martin dominated the International
Gold Cup meeting and not only did he win all of his
seven races, he destroyed the opposition with six of
his victories being in excess of 10 seconds. Indeed,
such was his dominance in the feature race he took the
chequered flag by over 30 seconds and whilst he was
crossing the line, second and third place were only
just coming round Mountside Hairpin!
Saturday was extremely foggy with visibility poor in
places but, after claiming two easy heat wins, Guy opened
his race account with victory in the first leg of the
Superbikes. The race was red flagged after just four
laps when Bret Crossley crashed heavily on the jumps,
and after lengthy treatment, the Yorkshireman was taken
to hospital with a broken leg and a hairline fracture
of the skull. The battle for second had been a lot closer
and whilst Ian Lougher claimed the position there was
a freight train behind him with David Bell, Ian Armstrong,
Martin Finnegan and Ryan Farquhar crossing the line
in quick succession.
In the first half of the opening 600cc race, Guy was
under pressure from Farquhar, who was having his first
rides on Slick Bass’ Kawasaki’s and the
lap record changed hands on a number of occasions. A
lap of 1m48.139s gave Guy the upper hand and he pulled
away in the final stages to take yet another win. It
was again close further behind but the impressive Marc
Ramsbotham took the final podium spot with Dwyer Agnew
just holding off Martin Finnegan for fourth and Mark
Buckley having his best ride of the weekend in sixth.
Sunday was scorching hot with the sun beating down
and lapping close to his own outright lap record, Guy
took the second Superbike race by over 20 seconds. Farquhar
rode brilliantly on his 600cc machine to finish second
with Lougher getting the better of Finnegan by just
two tenths of a second to finish third. It had taken
Martin some time to get past the Kawasaki duo of David
Bell and Keith Pringle but as soon as he did he quickly
reeled in Lougher, lapping almost two seconds quicker,
although he couldn’t find a way through. Bell
and Pringle held onto fifth and sixth with Buckley,
Agnew and Ramsbotham not far behind.
Guy’s sixth victory of the weekend came in the
second 600cc David Jefferies Trophy race and he again
led from start to finish. Lapping almost three seconds
a lap quicker than his rivals, he set an unbelievable
pace throughout and no one could get anywhere near him.
Farquhar had another comfortable second place whilst
the battle for third kept the huge crowd entertained
with Lougher just fighting off the close attentions
of Agnew. Ramsbotham again rode well into fifth although
he was disappointed to miss out on third overall whilst
Michael Dunlop put in a strong ride into sixth. Another
impressive ride came from newcomer Kieran Hankin who
took his second 8th place of the weekend.
The feature 12-lap Steve Henshaw Gold Cup race was
nothing short of a demonstration for Guy and at the
end of the first lap he was already three seconds clear.
Getting to within two tenths of the lap record, without
even being pressed, he simply ran away with the race
and he was able to claim his fourth successive title,
joining the great Barry Sheene with four Gold Cup wins.
Lougher held onto second throughout but he was under
pressure all the way from Finnegan. The wily Welshman
had every line covered and Martin was frustrated in
his overtaking attempts although he was still delighted
with third place on his circuit debut.
Agnew rode well for fourth whilst Farquhar fought his
way up to fifth after a poor opening lap left him way
down the order. An exhausted Bell held onto sixth with
William Dunlop finally getting to grips with the big
Suzuki to claim seventh. Pringle, Armstrong and Davy
Morgan completed the top ten.
Dunlop, Dunlop and, er, Dunlop dominate the
two-strokes
The Dunlop clan dominated the 250cc and 125cc races
over the weekend with William and Robert each claiming
a brace whilst Michael added another win to his name.
William was in fine form in the 250cc class and after
shadowing Ian Lougher in the first half of the Phil
Mellor Trophy he made his move in the latter stages
to claim an excellent win by 0.604 seconds. With Lougher
an early retirement in Sunday’s Lee Pullan Trophy,
it was a lot easier for William and he took his second
win of the weekend and his second piece of prestigious
silverware. Somewhat fittingly in the absence of the
much missed Darran Lindsay, Irish riders took all of
the podium positions with Trevor Keys in second (after
finishing third on Saturday) and circuit debutant Ian
Morrell in third.
The 125cc races were all about Robert and Michael but
the latter named crashed out of the first leg and although
he was able to remount to finish fourth, Dad Robert
took a comfortable win ahead of Peter Wakefield and
Tony Flinton. Later in the day, Michael made amends
and despite being stiff and sore, overhauled Robert
in the latter stages to take the win by just 0.335 seconds,
Wakefield and Flinton a long way back in third and fourth.
With just one race on Sunday, whoever won would take
the Stu Reed Trophy and it was Robert who prevailed,
gradually pulling away as the race progressed to take
a comfortable win. Ever the showman, Michael wheelied
his way over the line in second with veterans Wakefield
and Flinton again occupying third and fourth.
Goodings has it easy in the 400’s
Whilst he may have struggled in the 600cc class, where
he’s normally so strong, Mick Goodings had no
such problems in the two 400cc races and he took two
comfortable wins on his ZXR Kawasaki. The battles were
for the final podium positions and on Saturday Alistair
Haworth came out on top with Ross Johnson and Mark Parrett
in third and fourth. It was a lot closer in Sunday’s
second leg and just over a second separated the trio
at the chequered flag with Johnson getting second ahead
of Haworth whilst Parrett was again the one to miss
out in fourth.
Neary denies Connole clean sweep in F2 Sidecars
Nigel Connole and Jamie Winn were hoping to go throughout
the 2006 Scarborough season unbeaten and whilst they
were able to claim two wins, they were denied a 100%
record in Sunday’s second leg when Simon Neary
and Craig Hallam came out on top.
The duo were the men in charge all weekend but Neary
went out with brake problems in the opening leg leaving
Connole to take a dominant win over the returning Tony
Elmer and Darren Marshall with Conrad Harrison and Lee
Patterson in third. The second leg saw Connole and Neary
again go head to head but Neary was not to be denied
and he held on for the win by 1.596 seconds. Elmer and
Harrison were in third and fourth with the Beckworth
brothers occupying fifth.
Connole was determined not to be beaten again in the
third and final leg but Neary held sway for much of
the race and it was only on the final lap that Nigel
was able to find a way through, his eventual winning
margin being just 1.148 seconds. Elmer was again the
best of the rest in third, only four seconds further
back, whilst Tony Thirkell finally made it to the finish
in fourth. |
