Kirk exacts revenge on Rainey with St Angelo race wins

After running second to Ryan Rainey twice at Kirkistown the previous weekend, Dromara’s Alastair Kirk exacted his revenge.

In the opening Superbike race Kirk was unable to put any big break together, but still done enough to win by .3 of a second from Crumlins Ryan Rainey. On a Supersport bike, for some reason, Korie McGreevey finished third, over 20 seconds back. Held on a wet track after a shower of rain, the second race saw Kirky blast away from the line, chased hard by Rainey and the rest of the field. Pulling over a second a lap out of everybody else, Ali took the win from the almost too cautious Ryan Rainey by 8.7 seconds while Philip McNally took a fine third place. That leaves Ali Kirk just a single point behind Rainey going towards the last couple of meetings of the year.

Providing some of the best racing of the weekend, the Supersport 600 class was well worth the drive to Enniskillen on its own. Jason Lynn was the start to finish winner in the first outing, working hard to hold off a stern challenge from Randalstown man Christian Elkin. Elkin had his nose ahead a few times but Lynn fought back and managed to grab the race win by .1 of a second. In third, Korie McGreevey was well in touch with the top two.

After slipping off in the first race, Robert Kennedy, on a treacherously damp circuit, took a hard earned win in the second race. Again, it was Elkin who provided the main opposition, but the former NW200 winner just couldn’t manage to get ahead of the Dundrod man, who took the win by 1.6 seconds.

There was a double win in the Production Twin category for Antrim’s Luke Hazlett. In the first race the local man got the better of his main championship rival, Droghedas Mark McConville, by 2.7 seconds, while the very much improved Kevin Baker finished a close third. Hazlett became involved in a dog fight in the second race, just managing to squeeze ahead of Jonny Hamill in the final few laps. Hamill, in turn, held off a determined McConville to take second.

Run concurrently with the Production Twins, the first leg of the Supertwin class gave Christian Elkin the narrowest of wins over Aaron Armstrong. The Lisnaskea lad was all over Elkin for most of the race, even showing him a wheel at the final corner a few times. At the line there was just .03 between them, with Ross Patterson taking third, well back. Armstrong led the second race until he threw it away near the end of the third lap. Ross Patterson and Christian Elkin were the two main men then, with the Antrim lad holding his nerve to get the better of Elki by 3.3 seconds.

In the ISB/F1E/Supersport Cup race, Stephen Montgomery, from nearby Fivemiletown, had a couple of useful wins in the 600 class. He finished over 10 seconds ahead of Alan Armstrong in the first outing, while Thomas Lavin pushed Armstrong hard for most of the race.

Things weren’t just so cut and dried for Montgomery in the second race. Armstrong was well within pouncing distance at the end, and just failed, by 2.5 seconds to get a win. David Duffy finished third. John Shearer was a double winner in the ISB Cup class. He beat Alan Fisher by nearly 27 seconds in the first race, and was the only finisher in race two.

Run with the Cup races, Ballycastle man Charles Stewart was an easy winner of both encounters. In the first he was 15.6 seconds ahead of Chris Campbell, while in race two, Campbell cut that to 1.3 seconds.

Andrew Brady had a double in the Pre Injection races. He was being chased hard in the first one by Steven Titterington, but the Bangor man slowed off when he was covered in fuel after the filler cap came adrift on his R6, dropping him to fourth. It gave Brady the break he needed, but the Rosslea man didn’t slow, even breaking the PI lap record. At the end Brady was 17 seconds ahead of Stephen McKeown, while Roger Aiken took third.

Despite being red flagged, due to rain, after all riders had completed half distance, the second race wasn’t restarted. Half points were awarded. Stevie Titterington sorted out his filler cap problem and was able to take the second race to Brady, but the Fermanagh man had the measure of him, winning by over 4 seconds. McKeown finished in third place.

Cahal Graham, from Toomebridge won the first GP125 outing. He cleared off to leave Nigel Moore trailing in his wake, eventually winning by 23.5 seconds. Dungannon man Moore was second and Melissa Kennedy, from nearby Florencecourt, third. Nigel Moore took a narrow win in the second race, this time from Toome lad Eugene McManus. With the chequered flag being hung out after 5 of the scheduled 8 laps, Cahal Graham took third.

Antrim man Peter Fletcher had a fairly comfortable win over Mark Camblin in the SS400 race. I can’t help thinking that Camblin might have upset the apple cart had the race been another couple of laps long, though. The Dromore man was lapping some 2 seconds a lap faster than the local rider. Shane Sweeney won the next race, on a track that was gradually getting wetter as the rain started. Mark Camblin finished well back in second place, ahead of Peter Fletcher.

The Production 125/300 class has given us some marvellous entertainment recently as well. Dublin lad Luke O’Higgins was in brilliant form at the weekend. His starts are near on perfect every time. In Saturdays opening race the likeable youngster blasted away from the line, arriving at the first chicane about 30 yards before anybody else. Connall Courtney moved up to second after a slow start, but by then O’Higgins was too far down the road for the Warrenpoint lad to make any impression. Courtney took second, .3 back, while Jordan Burrows had to make do with third when Connall made his move. Luke O’Higgins was again the start to finish winner of race two. He was pushed for a while by young Burrows, but the Armagh lad ran onto the grass, dropping out of contention.

Glarryford man Barry Davidson rounded off yet another successful season with a win in the opening Classic event. He just managed to hold off a late challenge from Combers James Conroy, by .03 of a second. Conroy finished in runner up with George Stinson third. Conroy got the better of Davidson in race two, finishing over 17 seconds ahead. Second and third were never going to be settled till they crossed the line, Dromores Mark Johnston only .01 behind Davidson.

THIS WEEKEND

The eagerly awaited David Wood memorial meeting will take place this weekend at Bishopscourt.

Practice will get under way at 9am, with the first race due about 11am. There is a 16 race programme planned.