Riders turn out in force for Supermoto event

The second round was held at a cold and windswept Eglinton circuit within sight of the City of Derry Airport last Sunday. I was able to get to that and I had honestly forgotten how much fun Supermoto was.

The circuit, although very short, was technical and very grippy, with the days fastest lap just a fraction over 20 seconds.

Jamie Duncan had a treble in the Prestige A solo races. In the first it was Ryan Fenton who provided the main opposition, while Scott Marsden took third. It was again Duncan and Fenton in the second race, and almost exactly the same time difference, 14.8 seconds. Alan Morgan took third. In the final race, Alan Morgan had been up with the leaders, but fell. That let former short circuit racer BJ Toal through to finish second, while Roy McGarvey was right at Toals elbow.

As always, the Quad races were absolutely fabulous entertainment. In the first, Mark Donnelly was able to break away from Justin Reid, as the Ards man got tangled up with tailenders. Reid was 5 seconds back at the finish, while Colin Forsythe finished in third place. It was again Donnelly and Reid in the second race, but this time Cathal McCartan finished in third place, right behind Reid.

In the last race of the day, former British title holder Reid trailed Donnelly for most of the race, but with just about half a minute plus a lap left, Reid nipped under Donnelly, whose machine seemed to have developed a misfire in the engine. Cathal McCartan again finished in third place.

One of Northern Irelands top MX riders, Jason Meara, from Loughbrickland, was taking part in his first ever Supermoto event. He had three race wins from three race starts in the Solo Clubmans class. Each race was a near carbon copy of the last, as Meara came from behind to pass Paul Gormley towards the finish.

Meara won the first race, over 5 seconds ahead of Gormley, with Michael Huey a lap down in third. Four point four seconds was the official difference separating Meara and Gormley in the next race, while again Huey was a lap down in third. Things were a bit closer in the final outing. With a couple of laps to go, Meara tried to dive under Gormley at the hairpin. He completely messed it up, lifting the rear wheel about two feet off the ground, nearly taking both out and almost going over the handlebars. By the time he was sorted out Gormey had a couple of seconds of a lead.

Fighting back, Jason took the race win, by 1.1 seconds. Mark McMullan finished in third place this time, a lap down.

The final class, the Clubmans Quad division, gave Richard Carey a treble. He was well ahead of Alistair Wilson in the first race, with Daividas Gordonas in third place. It was again Wilson who finished as the runner up in the next outing, while Blake McCormick grabbed the final podium slot. McCormick improved to second in the final race, while it was Wilson who took third place.

The final round of the series will be at Nutts Corner in two weeks, the 16th November. This one will feature the David Jefferies Memorial race. More details on that when I get them.

Roy Adams