Dunlop lands treble at Cookstown

Upping the lap record, set in 2011 by Guy Martin, Michael stamped his superiority on the Cookstown 100 A race, which was led at the end of the opening lap by Derek Sheils. Dunlop won by 2.5 seconds from Martin, who had to recover from a slow start. Sheils slipped back to finish over 4 seconds back. Dunlop also took a win in the Cookstown Open A race, this time finishing almost 4 seconds ahead of Martin, while again Sheils took third.

Martin had his only win of the day, in the Supersport 600 race. At one point he was well ahead of Michael Dunlop, but a series of fastest laps brought Dunlop back to a position where he was able to make a dive to try to get under Martin at Orritor Crossroads, two bends from home. The pair touched, but the Suzuki rider held on to take a win by just .1 of a second. The top two had pulled well away from the impressive circuit newcomer Dean Harrison.

Despite taking to the footpath at Craigmount on the opening lap Scottish visitor Alastair Howarth had a comfortable win in the Supersport 400 race. He beat Skerries man Andy Farrell into second place by over 9 seconds with Aly Bayley third. Haworth took 1.2 seconds off Ryan Farquhars 10 year old lap record in this race.

Jamie Hamilton had a win in the Supertwins race, where he finished over 7 seconds in clear of Michael Sweeney with recently married William Davison in third place.

William Dunlop had a Cookstown to forget, retiring twice at Orritor Crossroads. He stopped in both the 125 and 600 races there. In the 250 class, however, William hit the front and stayed there, never coming under any serious pressure from Sam Wilson. Sam was given a hard time by Davy Morgan but the Saintfield man could make no pass on the local rider.

Seamus Elliott ran out as the winner of the Moto450 race, which was run concurrently with the GP250 class. Paddy McColgan finished in second place in front of Darren Gilpin. Darren very sportingly lent his 125GP bike to Warren Reeve after the Fivemiletown man destroyed his own engine at a track day the previous weekend.

William Dunlop was forced out of the 125GP race on the third lap, after setting the fastest lap. It handed the race win to his cousin, Paul Robinson. Robinson, in turn, was hounded all the way by Sam Wilson, but the Ballymena rider could make no real impression of Robinson and settled for runner up. Bruce Moulds, in his first ever road race, finished a distant third place, on the bike raced last year by Wayne Kennedy.

Another Scottish visitor, Andy Lawson, took a win in the Senior Support class. He was chased hard by James Kelly, while Antrims Mark Hanna was about 6 seconds back in third. Hanna was well in line for a win in the Junior Support class. Riding his TSR250 the local lad had hit the front, knocking 2.2 seconds off the lap record in the process. With half a lap to go his bike broke a piston, gifting the win to Conor Behan.

Talking to Mark on Sunday he said: ‘Conor was riding really well. I got by him and it was just a rehearsal for the last lap in case I needed it. The bike broke in exactly the same place as it did on the last lap in 2010, when I was in the lead as well.’ It left Behan, a circuit newcomer, over 20 seconds ahead of Gavin Lupton. Luppy, riding an SV650 thats backed by Davy McCartney and Seamus Dobbin of Ballymena based S&D Racing, just got the better of Alistair Haworth by .03 of a second.

In her first ever road race in Ireland, Czech TV presenter Veronika Hankocyova, who is Michal Dokoupil’s fiancée, qualified in pole position. That was in the wet, though.

She was never going to be on the pace in the dry, however, and on the Rathkenny Track & Enduro’s Stock ER6, Veronika was dropping perhaps 10mph in top speed. Michael Dunlop rode in the B race, after not having qualified in the A event. He destroyed the rest of the field. The race was shortened to just 3 laps, and at the end of that Dunlop had 16 seconds of a lead over Derek Costello with Maria Costello third.

I don’t quite understand why separate 250 and 350 Classic races were held. There is only a single championship for them now and it would have saved about half an hour had they run together. Phil Shaw won the 250 class, nicely ahead of Pete Wakefield and Jeff ward, all three being Suzuki mounted.

Glarryford man Barry Davidson had a great race with Robert McCrum in the 350 class. There was never much separating them, with the local man winning by .8 of a second. The top two were well away from Sean Leonard. McCrum did get his race win in the Senior Classic race. He saw off a challenge from John Scott, who was only a bike length ahead of Ramsey man Allan Brew.

Alan Kenny, one of the finds of last season, just edged out Paul Gartland in the Open B race, The Ederney man pushed hard all the way, finishing over 6 seconds up on Daley Matheson. Gartland exacted revenge in the Cookstown 100 B race, however. He finished 1.6 ahead of Kenny, this time Scot Craig Shirlaw taking third.

The Supersport B went to Andy Lawson, the Scottish rider surviving nearly being flung from his Kawasaki at Blacks Farm during the race. He won by 2.4 seconds from Scott Campbell and Dave Hewson.

Mark Goodings was the winner in the Senior Support B event. He was pressed hard by Gary Graves until the Englishman seemed to decide that he would settle for second place. Skerries man David Howard was third. Anthony Ambler, who would be better known for racing Classic bikes, won the Junior Support B race. He was well away from RJ Woolsey and Oliver Dupuy at the flag.

In all a brilliant day’s racing, and very well run by CoC Francis Everard.

Great credit must go to the Cookstown club. The weather on Friday night was dreadful and red flags left the club running badly behind time. They stuck to their task and fired Saturdays races through in near record time. Well done to them. I must, however, say sorry to the local riders. Due to restraints put on me for space I have had to cut down on the size of my report of Cookstown. I normally highlight the local riders’ performances, but I can’t do that this week. Hopefully, normal service will resume next week from Tandragee.

NEW MCUI CODE OF PRACTICE

Published the day before the Cookstown practice, the MCUI have issued a new code of practice for all road events in the Ulster Centre.

There are no real shocks within the document as its been well known for ages that the MCUI want people further back from trackside, and preferably in grandstands.

They have been concerned about how close people can get to the side of the road and are taking steps to ensure that they are moved further away from the racing. This includes marshals and first aid personnel who will have to be sited further away from trackside.

Photographers are, as the current rules stand, allowed to stand beside marshals, provided they are not impeding any work they do.

The number of prohibited areas will be increased and some of the existing ones will be enlarged, so that the days of spectators hanging through hedges seem to be gone. The email says ‘It’s a live document that can be reviewed where necessary to ensure the ongoing process of safety is the key priority.’

The new directive lays out a number of points for spectators to be mindful of:

1. Plan where you are going to watch races from and check the club website well in advance.

2. Buy a programme.

3. Arrive early.

4. Stay put between races.

5. Obey marshals.

MCUI Chairman Jack Agnew said: “Our team at the MCUI UC work closely with individual clubs to proactively and continually examine ways to ensure that road racing is as safe as possible for fans, competitors and race officials.

“Of course we don’t want to spoil anyones enjoyment but we would encourage individuals and families to consider safe viewing locations and follow advice and instructions of marshals and officials at each race event throughout the coming season.”

TANDRAGEE THIS WEEKEND

One of the most stressful jobs in bike racing has to be the Clerk of the Courses post and even more so in a road race. We have had a number of cases of female deputy CoC’s, at road races already.

This weekend at Tandragee, however, for the first time ever, we will have a female Clerk of the Course. The lady will be Anne Forsythe, daughter of prominent MCUI official, Ian, who himself was Clerk of the Course at Tandragee for a number of years. Anne has acted in many roles at the meeting, including race secretary, before taking on the top job. I wish her well with it.

As she told me at Cookstown ‘I have a good team around me and they will keep me right if I need any help or advice. Ultimately the decisions are mine but I’m just hoping for a safe day with good racing.’ Anne is also the Vice Chairperson of the MCUI UC, another first for her gender.

Practice for the Around A Pound Tandragee 100 races will be on Friday, with roads closing at 3.30pm. Its planned to have the first practice session at on the road by 4pm. Roads are due open again by 9.30pm. On Saturday roads close at 10.30am with the first race planned for 11am. I’m not sure if the parade laps are before 11am or not.

The special guest here is former World champion and TT winner, factory Honda rider Jim Redman. The club have the road closing order valid till 7pm, but I’m quite sure they like us all to be on our way home before that!