Neill secures Norman Brown Trophy success at Bishopscourt

Portadown man Marhall Neill ran out as the winner of the feature race of the day, coming from behind and finishing ahead of David Haire.

Athlone rider Cody Nally crashed out of contention just on halfway through the race, leaving Neill to take the win by 1.6 seconds. Haire, in second place, was well ahead of Castlederg rider Nico Mawhinney.

It was pretty much the same story in the opening Superbike race as well, where Neill had to work hard to come from behind to take the win over Nally, with Haire in third position.

The Supersport 600 races were right out of the top drawer. In the first, David Haire just held on to out drag young Jason Lynn to the flag, finishing just .1 ahead, while Carl Phillips was third, little over a second back. The second race was one of the best of the day. With a couple of laps to go, it looked like David Haire had just about enough done to win it, but he ended up fifth!

The race win went to Carl Phillips, who managed to get ahead of Nico Mawhinney on the final lap. Jason Lynn was third, a further .2 adrift. Less than a second separated the top five riders at the end, and that was about the most they had been for the whole race.

Dave Butler took his now customary win in the Production Twin races. In the first, he finished 54 seconds ahead of Mark McConville, while in third position, Paul O’Rourke was the last rider to remain unlapped.

It was exactly the same in the second race, with Butler breaking the lap record and winning from McConville and O’Rourke.

Drew Jamison won the first Supertwins race, riding the bike that has been vacated by Stuart Elwood, the Lisburn rider forced into a premature retirement by injury. He was pressed hard all the way by Daryl Duffy, with the Castleblaney man just .4 off the pace at the finish. Better known as a Pre Injection rider, Melvin Hollingsworth took third, nearly 20 seconds back.

Daryl Duffy took an emphatic win in race two, finishing almost 20 seconds ahead of Hollingsworth. Behind that there was a great four-rider dice for the final podium place. Andrew McMullan eventually grabbed third, just .01 ahead of Brendan Glover.

Mervyn Griffin won the first Pre Injection race. He fought his way to the front of a group, dropping Gareth George to second, just .6 of a second back, while Paraic Dooley was third, less than a second back. John Horgan was a start to finish winner in the second race. The Co. Cork man made the long trip worthwhile, taking the lead from the lights and finishing 9.2 seconds ahead of Gareth George, while it was again Dooley who took third, less than two seconds off the pace.

Run concurrently with the Pre Injection lads, the only 250GP bike to race was Ronan Shanahan. He finished both races, therefore was the winner.

Conor Parkhill was a double winner in the GP125 races. In the first, the Eglinton youngster was chased hard by Toomebridge’s Padraig Graham. At the line’ Graham’s Honda was almost six seconds adrift, but by the same token was 8.6 seconds ahead of Edenderry lad Kevin Keyes.

In race two, Padraig Graham came to within 1.2 seconds of catching young Parkhill, but a determined last couple of laps moved Kyle Cross ahead of Kevin Keyes.

Run along with the GP125’s, the two Supersport 400 races went to Tom Gregory. In the first, he was the proverbial country mile ahead of Andrew Whearty, with Eoghan Delaney third. Whearty was 8.6 seconds back in the second outing, but Tom Courtney took third, just 3.7 back.

Tom amused himself on Saturday night by sending me a message on Facebook that I should buy a bike and come out to play with him again. Don’t think so. Been there and done that.

Paul Swords took a comfortable win in the first Supersport and Superbike Cup event. He hit the front right from the start, winning by almost seven seconds. Marc Turner finished in second place, a similar distance ahead of Banbridge man Greg Wilson. Turner took the next race, 4.1 ahead of Swords, while Paul Maxwell was third, a little over a second back.

Yet again the Adelaide Masters has proved that it’s the top championship in Ireland. The combination of close racing and a sensible format must have made for exciting TV coverage. I’m not quite sure when it’s on TV yet, but when I do I’ll let you know.

ULSTER GRAND PRIX

This week sees the Ulster Grand Prix reach its 60th anniversary at the Dundrod circuit.

It’s also the 50th anniversary of the UIster Grand Prix Supporters Club, a group of people without whom, undoubtedly, we would not have an UIster Grand Prix to go to.

Roads close on Wednesday for the Dundrod 150 practice at 1.30pm until 9.30pm. On Thursday, roads close at 10.30am until 8.30pm. That will allow for the Ulster Grand Prix practice, followed by the Dundrod 150 races.

On Saturday, the roads close at 9.30am, with the opening race for Superstock machines due away about 10.30am.

I hope to have a full round up of the week’s racing in next week’s Times, but along with every other photographer, I’m not very happy that we have to pay for the privilege of photographing the Prix.

Surely the UGP organisers should be trying to attract media to the meeting and not trying to drive them away?

CLADY RUN

I did include this in last week’s notes, but due to restricted space and extended coverage of the Mid Antrim, it fell victim to the great editorial scissors!

This Friday night, the 16th, the Clady Club hold their annual charity classic run.

The actual run will begin at 6.30pm from Killead church car park, and will take in the now familiar route of a lap of the old Clady circuit. The cost will be £10. This year’s nominated charity will be the MCUI Medical Team.

The MCUI team save lives on a routine basis and quite simply and bluntly, if they aren’t at a race, it doesn’t happen. I’ve seen them in action far too often, sadly and have even been glad of them a time or two myself.

So come along to Killead on Friday night and support the Clady club in their efforts to raise a few quid for the doctors.

THANKS

Many thanks to all who took time to congratulate both me and the Times on last weeks coverage of the Mid Antrim.

I had quite a few messages on Facebook about it and the Times’ Facebook page was also contacted.

It’s nice when you try to promote something that people take time to appreciate it.

THANKS TO THE MINiMOTO CLUB

Chatting to Bert Robinson from the Minimoto Racing Club of Ireland at Bishopscourt on Saturday. He convinced me to go to Nutts Corner on Sunday for a look at the Minimoto racing.

I’m glad I did, and I saw some of the best and closest racing I’ve seen this season. I took a few photos and one of them has three bikes in it. I’ve looked at for ages and still can’t figure out how they fitted in there!

The entire day was so relaxed for me, and it was good me among people who were there for the love of their sport and not on an ego trip with a clip board in their hand.

One of the best bits of the weekend was the finish between Nigel and Malcolm Robinson. I honestly don’t even think a transponder would have sorted it out.

My thanks to Bert and the rest of the MMRCI for inviting me and making me feel welcome. Expect some more coverage of minibikes from now on.