Burrows take positives from Cookstown outing

Burrows started the day with sixth in the Open race that was won by Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin before taking seventh in the Supersport race which brought victory for Ryan Farquhar. Burrows took another sixth place in the Cookstown 100 feature event before ending the day with a fifth place in the Supertwins race.

Kawasaki backed Farquhar also won the Cookstown 100 and Supertwins events.

Speaking afterwards Burrows said: “If I’m honest, I felt a little rusty and I wasn’t at the top of my game. My only track time this year prior to the Cookstown meeting was a day of testing at Kirkistown and it obviously wasn’t enough to get me fully up to speed. However, most of the cobwebs were well and truly blown out of my system on Saturday and I’m very confident that I’ll be nearer the sharp end of things at Tandragee next weekend.”

“My Cookstown/BE Racing GSXR 1000 Superbike, purchased from TAS Racing during the winter, was absolutely flying, I’m more than pleased with it. The two sixth placings I took on the GSXR 1000 (in the Open and feature races) might not seem great, but all the guys ahead of me were leading international road racers. In the Open race I was only eleven seconds down on the winner (Martin) after the six laps distance and I was pleased to lap in 1 min 25. Martin’s fastest lap was 1 min 24 so I wasn’t a million miles off the pace.”

Burrows feels that there is a lot of potential in the new machine and he is looking forward to an exciting couple of months of racing.

“I was happy enough to take seventh in the Supersport race as it was my first competitive outing on the Moira Motorcycle Racing Club’s CBR600 RR Honda. The CBR was a little down on top speed but we feel we know a trick or two that will get us some extra miles per hour before Tandragee. I feel the Moira bike has a lot of untapped potential.

Despite a positive couple of results Burrows knows that he will have to improve if he wants to retain his Irish Supertwins title.

“Fifth in the Supertwins race was my highest finish of the day but I have to say it was my most disappointing result. If I’m to win the Irish Supertwins title for a third consecutive year top three finishes are a must so the rostrum is the definite aim for Tandragee and every race after that. I don’t feel the KBM Kawasaki 650 was just at its best at Cookstown so we’ll have a long hard look at it before Tandragee and then come out fighting hard.”