Heavy downpour leads to early abandonment at Mondello

Saturday’s racing at Mondello was cut short by a monsoon-like downpour that left race organisers no alternative but to abandon the rest of the day’s sport.
Antrim's Jamie Patterson, centre, with the Leinster Trophy Cup. On the left is second placed Carl Phillips and on the right, Dundrods Robert Kennedy. Picture: Roy Adams,Antrim's Jamie Patterson, centre, with the Leinster Trophy Cup. On the left is second placed Carl Phillips and on the right, Dundrods Robert Kennedy. Picture: Roy Adams,
Antrim's Jamie Patterson, centre, with the Leinster Trophy Cup. On the left is second placed Carl Phillips and on the right, Dundrods Robert Kennedy. Picture: Roy Adams,

By then I don’t think many riders were bothered. Track conditions were akin to a stream, with surface water making racing impossible and dangerous. A wise decision.

There were only two races completed on Saturday, the Pre Injection/250GP and the Supertwins. In the Pre Injection, it was Ronan Shanahan who took a well deserved win, on his 2 stroke Honda. He was 3.1 seconds ahead of Mervyn Griffin, with Stevie Titterington third.

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The Supertwins race went to Korie McGreevey. He finished some 6 seconds ahead of Philip McNally, while Brian Coomey was a distant third. By then the track was under water and race organisers wisely decided to call a halt to proceedings.

An altered programme on Sunday morning sent the riders straight into racing after a short warm up session. In the Superbike class, the opening race went to Jamie Patterson. The Antrim rider finished just over a second ahead of Portadowns Mark Murphy, with Philip McNally in third.

The feature event of the day was the Leinster 100 Trophy race. It gave a start to finish win for Tramore man Brian McCormack. For most of the race BMac was pushed hard by Athlones Cody Nally, but in the closing stages of the race, Nally slipped back, having chosen the wrong tyres. The margin of victory was 5.3 seconds. With the top two involved in a dice, Philip McNally and Declan Hoey were disputing the final step on the podium. With a final lap surge, it went to Hoey.

The two Supersport races were right out of the top drawer. In the first, Dundrods Robert Kennedy, Carl Phillips, Jamie Patterson and Jason Lynn were tooth and nail from the lights. Kennedy took the race win, his first at National level, with Phillips just .4 of a second back, after swapping places almost every corner. Jamie Patterson finished in third place. The second race, for the Leinster Cup Trophy was probably the best race of the day. The same four riders battled it out right from the start. Patterson took the race win, just .1 ahead of Phillips, with Kennedy in third, just a further .1 back.

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In the Cup races, the first went to Brian Flannery. In his first race meeting in four months, and on his nice newly painted bike, Flanno was only .3 ahead of Brian Leddy. John Cahill slipped to third at the line, but was still well in contention. Cahill, from Stradbally, bettered his result in the second race, taking a win. He finished well ahead of Wayne Walsh, while Flanno grabbed a useful third place.

The opening race for the Classic Superbikes went to Barry Gill. Riding an RC30, Gill, from Limerick, was well ahead of Sam Wright and Willie Maher at the finish. Sam Wright took what I understand is his first ever win in the second race. He pulled away from early leader Mike Meskell in the closing stages of the race, finishing 6.8 seconds ahead of the Tuamgraney man.

Meskell, you may remember, was a man to answer to round Mondello in the 1980’s. The new Claassic Superbike class has prompted him to make a race return on an OWO1 Yamaha. Ian Whearty finished in third place, his little RVF Honda being out powered by the bigger bikes.

Ronan Shanahan took a win in the Pre Injection class in Sundays opening outing. He was never able to relax, though, as Mervyn Griffin was right in his wheel tracks. Griffin missed out by .4, with young Lee Bradshaw in third. Thomas Lawlor took the final race of the weekend for the Pre Injection class. On his 250GP bike, Lawlor had to work for it though, only managing to make a break from Lee Bradshaw in the later part of the race. Mervyn Griffin was third, still well in contention.

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In the Supertwins class, Philip McNally had a double. He controlled the first race, winning by 2.8 seconds over Korie McGreevey, while Brian Coomey was third. The final race was red flagged on the opening lap after Kia McGreevey slid off. He was unhurt, but the bike was in dangerous position when the marshals tried to recover it.

In the restart the elder of the McGreevey brothers dropped his bike in the same place. That took the pressure off Philip McNally, who by then had built up a useful cushion. With McNally dropping out, Michael Rea was promoted to third, although the Belfast rider was well back. Aaron Clifford, on the beautiful little Aprilia 4 stroke, was third, and pressing Rea hard.

The 125/400 races were all about Randalstown man Christian Elkin. Riding Antrim man Bob Wylies little Moto3 Honda, Elkin was the early leader in the first race. He was passed for a few laps by his team mate Richard Kerr, but before long the local man took over at the front, winning by 3.2 seconds from young Kerr. Kyle Cross was third.

Elkin won the last race for the small bikes. He was in a class of his own this time, pulling away from a dice for the lower places involving Cross and Kerr. This time Kerr had to give best, finishing .2 behind the Lisburn lad, who is the nephew of Darren Burns, a former multiple Irish road race champion. Run concurrently with the GP125’s, the SS400 class was well supported. The first race was won by Andy McAllister. The Belfast man was well ahead of the second SS400 bike, ridden by Alvin Griffin. Willie Maher was third.

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The final race was all Griffins. He moved well away from a great dice involving Willie Maher and Philip Harding. Harding was all over the back of Maher, but simply hadn’t an answer for the Cashel man. At the finish they were separated by .2 of a second.

Richard Kerr was a double winner in the Newcomers 125 races. In the first he was well ahead of Donegal lad Caolan Irwin, with young Sam Lyons third. The last race of the weekend for the youngsters went to Kerr, by the proverbial country mile. He was almost half a lap ahead of a great dice involving Irwin and William Young. In the closing stages Irwin was able to make a slight break, leaving Young to finish in third place.

The first sidecar outing on the Sunday provided some good close action. For much of the race the top three battled it out, and were under a second apart at the end. Terry O’Neill and Nicole Lynch won, with Nicoles elder brother Dylan, passengered by Stephen Mullan, just .01 behind at the line. It must be some sort of a record.

Another of the Lynch family, Derek, drove the third placed outfit, passengered by Joe Newton. Dylan Lynch was not to be outdone in the last race. He pulled away from a close dice for second. Derek Lynch/Joe Newton grabbed the runner up berth, just .1 ahead of Terry O’Neill and the baby of the Lynch family, Nicole.

THIS WEEKEND

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This weekend, for the first time since the start of June, we have a short circuit in the North.

It’s a bit of a wait, but I’m sure it’s going to be worth it.

There can be no doubt that the Adelaide Insurance backed Mondello Masters series is the one of the success stories of recent years, and the one that all riders want to win. The highly successful championship makes its only journey to the Ulster centre this coming Saturday, when the Bishopscourt plays host to rounds 7 and 8.

I had planned on giving an updated points table, but the only information on the website is last year’s tables.

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Practice gets under way at 9am, with the first race of the day at 12 noon. I will, as usual, have a full race report and photos next week, making the Times the only local paper in this area to give coverage to the entire Masters series.

ULSTER GRAND PRIX

Information is coming thick and fast now for the Metzeler Ulster Grand Prix Bike Week. The Ulster is, for me at any rate, the high point of the road racing season.

The top road racers in the World on the fastest circuit in the World. Can it get any better?

Although space dictates that I can only give a certain amount of space to previews of race meetings, I will try in next weeks Times to give as full a round up as possible.

SPONSORED WALK INFO

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As you may or may not know, the current Miss Mid Antrim 150, Zoe McKinnon and myself are organising a fancy dress sponsored walk. It’s at Kirkistown on the 6th September.

Fancy dress is not obligatory. It’s just an idea to have some fun and maybe get a few kids involved. I would imagine that there will be a few strange get ups on show, though.

The walk is to raise money for two very important causes within the sport of motorcycling, The MCUI Travelling Doctors and the Injured Riders Fund. Both Zoe and myself have sponsorship forms, or they can be downloaded from Emerald Road Racings Facebook page.

The walk is planned for the lunch break between practice and racing, hopefully about 12noon.

Our thanks to Clerk of the Course for the meeting, John McClure and to the Belfast and District club for permitting the nonsense.