Ryan to the 'four' again at Armoy

THE all-conquering Ryan Farquhar continues to dominate local road racing, as he stromed to four race wins at Armoy on Saturday.

After breaking the late, great Joey Dunlop's record of National road race victories last year, Ryan is just 9 wins short of Joey's record of race wins at all Irish meetings, National and International. Joey won 156 races between 1971 and 2000, while at the minute Ryan has 142, or perhaps 143, when the MCUI finally get round to sorting out the result of the Cookstown 100 at the end of April.

Terrible weather conditions forced the organising Armoy club's hand on Friday, and they had no choice other than to abandon practice, with less than half the sessions completed. That meant they were always going to be under pressure on Saturday, to complete the practice and run the scheduled 10 races.

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Clerk of the Course, Bill Kennedy and his team stuck to the task, and for my money ran a fantastic meeting. Not only did they get the 7 practice sessions fired through, but also the 10 races, and still had the road opened comfortably before 6pm.

The first race of the day, which started at 12.40pm, was the Junior Support event. As the first group of riders headed towards the new, controversial and much-hated chicane, there was only ever going to one outcome.

Dean Harrison hit the front from the start, and setting fastest lap after fastest lap, he took the race win by over 15 seconds. David Yeomans, better known as Yomo, brought his GP250 home second, while Scot Craig Shirlaw was one only other rider to remain unlapped by Harrison. Shirlaw was about 8 seconds adrift of Yomo. David Howard, like Yomo, from Skerries, finished in fourth place on his SV650 Suzuki. Big Johnnie Quinn, from Coleraine, and Ballymoney's Rueben McPhee had a great race for fifth and sixth places. Quinn eventually got the verdict by .3 of a second.

The only local finisher was Ballymena's Mark Shields. Mark, who compared to some of the other men in the Support class, has limited experience, brought his SV home in a very creditable 13th place, having a fastest lap of 83.951mph.

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Next up was the GP125/Moto 450 race. Sam Dunlop was the early leader here, but as the race progressed Sam dropped back. Ballymena man Barry Davidson was involved in a hard fought dice for the lead, but dropped out just after half way when his Jackson Honda broke an exhaust.

William Dunlop put himself ahead on the first lap, and was in great form, pulling away to take a somewhat comfortable win, almost 14 seconds ahead of his cousin Paul Robinson. Darren Burns finished in third place, with Sam Dunlop fourth. Nigel Moore and Enniskillen's Wayne Kennedy completed the leaderboard, with Kennedy riding the Honda that was raced by Mark Curtin, before the Dublin man emigrated to Australia.

Jeff Shaw was the best local man to finish, in 8th place. Jeff had a fastest lap of 84.819mph, on his Bobby Logan backed Honda. Galgorm man Darren Gilpin also finished in the points. He took 14th place, having a quickest lap of 80.168mph. Run concurrently, there was never going to be any doubt who was winning the Moto450 race. Ryan Farquhar finished over 20 seconds ahead of Seamus Elliott, who was pushed hard by Trevor Ferguson. At the line just .1 separated Elliott and Ferguson.

Keith Amor inflicted a rare defeat on Farquhar in the Supersport 600 race. The Killyman rider was ahead, but was under pressure from the Dunlop brothers, William and Michael, with Amor in fourth place at the end of the first lap.

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The Falkirk man, who had his friend, WSB star Jonathan Rea in his pit crew, moved up past both the Dunlop boys, until he was able to get the drop on Farquhar, when Ryans bike spun the back wheel looking for grip. Amor set a new lap record on the final lap, to beat Farquhar into second place by .1 of a second. William Dunlop took third place, almost 3 seconds back, but about 5 seconds ahead of brother Michael. Czech star Michal Dokoupil took fifth place on his track debut, finishing .5 of a second ahead of Davy Morgan.

Randalstown man Jack McIlvenna finished in 15th place, on the Moira club's R6. Jack, last years Manx GP winner, lapped at 93.301mph. Kells' Dennis Booth finished in 23rd position, having a fastest lap of 91.2mph.

The next race was the 250/350 Clasic event. Denis Gallagher, from Glasgow, led for the first lap, but it wasnt long till Chris McGahan took over at the front. McGahon pulled steadily away from Denis, finishing 5.1 seconds ahead. Thomas Hogg, on the Leonard Honda that used to be raced by Ballymena man Terry Simpson, broke the lap record, moving almost to within striking distance of Gallagher. Hogg finished in 3rd place, while Manxman Allan Brew took fourth place ahead of Billy Lyle and Tim Stephenson.

Ballymena man Barry Davidson had led the 250 class, but had dropped back behind Philip Shaw. Barry was eventually forced out when Sammy Dempster's little Honda expired. From memory, the first mechanical non finish for the bike since Barry started to ride for Sam.

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Ryan Farquhar took a win in the first Open race, where Keith Amor finished in second place. Amor had been lying third behind Michael Dunlop, but by the time the Scotsman got by Dunlop, it was just too late for him to catch Farquhar. The finishing difference was 2 seconds. Dunlop took 3rd, almost 6 seconds behind Amor. Adrian Archibald just managed to hold off William Dunlop, while Davy Morgan beat Michael Pearson by .03 of a second to finish 6th.

Again, Jack McIlvenna was the best local finisher, taking 14th place. On a circuit where top speed is very important, Jack raced a 600, against full Superbikes. The only other 600 machine ahead of the Randalstown man at the line was Damien Mulleady. Jacks fastest lap was 94.052mph. Dennis Booth finished 18th, also riding a 600. His quickest circuit was 90.567mph.

Robert McCrum beat Mark McGaw by .1 of a second in the 500/1000 Classic race, and then ran out of fuel as he crested Deans Rise, about 400 yards after the finish. That was about as good as the race got, as third finisher Richard Ford was 25.5 seconds behind the second man. Billy Lyle finished in 4th place, to better his 5th in the 250/350 Classic race. Gary Jamison and Freddie Stewart completed the leaderboard.

William Dunlop recovered from a slow start to take a win in the 250GP race. Barry Davidson was the early leader of the race on the CB Honda, but he overshot the chicane, and after that had no chance of repeating his Mid Antrim triumph.

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William Dunlop gradually recovered from the bad start, and took the race win from 5 times Irish road race champion, and former Manx GP winner Darren Burns. Burnsy didnt give up, though, and was just .4 behind Dunlop at the line. Saintfield man Davy Morgan was still in touch with the leaders, finishing just under a second back in third, but having the consolation of the lap record for the class. Barry recovered to take fourth place, while Nigel Moore and Ian Morrell completed the top six. Barry was the only local rider to take part here, his fastest lap being 93.976mph. Dean Harrison again performed a demolition job in the Senior Support race. He simply hit the front and cleared off, winning at his ease. It was a bit closer between Alan Bonner and big Shaun Anderson for the final two places on the podium. Bonner got the better of it by just .3 of a second, while Banbridge man Anderson was almost 6 seconds ahead of fromer BSB regular Paul Barron. Barron finished well ahead of Craig Shirlaw and Gary Millar.

As has been the norm of late, Ryan Farquhar won the Supertwins race. He went ahead right from the start, and was never under any real pressure. Circuit newcomer Dokoupil tried hard, but could not match Farquhar, eventually finishing in second place, some 7.8 seconds adrift. John Burrows was a distant third place, ahead of Michael Sweeney. Riding a 550 Aprilia, as opposed to an SV650, Adrian McFarland finished in 5th place. McFarland was outpaced by the faster 650 machines, but rode the wheels off the smaller capacity bike to take a useful place. Craig Shirlaw was sixth.

Darren Gilpin, a man who harder than most to ensure the Supertwins class, was the best of the local riders. He took 11th place on his Suzuki. Darrens fastest lap was 84.159mph. Next best local man to take the flag was Mark Shields. With a fastest lap of 82,348mph. Mark took 18th position.

The final race of the day was the Superbike event, grandly titled the Race of Legends. Right from the start, Keith Amor was ahead of Ryan Farquhar. Try as he might, the Ulsterman just couldnt get on terms with Amor. On the final lap, some tailenders baulked Amor, and never one to miss an opportunity, Farquhar made his move. The Killyman rider held on to win by .1 of a second, and was clearly over the moon with the result. Michael Dunlop could not match the pace of the two leaders, taking third place, over 12 seconds behind Amor. Adrian Archibald was fourth, with William Dunlop and Davy Morgan completing the top six. Jack McIlvenna was the best of the locals. He took 16gth place on the Moira clubs R6, with a quickest lap of 93.558mph.

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As I said at the start, a brilliant meeting. The Armoy club were always going to up against it but got practice started quickly, after closing the roads at 10am. The first race got under way at 12.40pm, and the 10 race programme was done and dusted before 6pm. This, despite a couple of red flag incidents, neither, from what I hear, to do with the races. A clear lesson to some clubs of how to run a race meeting. Well done to Bill Kennedy and the rest of the Armoy club. I’m looking forward to next years meeting already.

UGP BIKE WEEK

Yip. It’s here again. Billed as the Fastest Road Race in the World, the Ulster Grand Prix takes place at the end of Ulster Grand Prix Bike Week, over the World famous 7.4 mile Dundrod circuit.

The week’s programme has alreay started, with things like trials displays, a sponsored walk and wall of death show having taken place on Sunday past. From today, Tuesday, Nutts Corner will host a David Jefferies Memorial Supermoto meeting.

On Wednesday practice for the Dundrod 150 races gets under way, with roads closing at 1.30pm. They are due to reopen before 9.30pm. Thats fine, in theory, but its normally too dark to see from about 9pm. Thursday is a busy day, with the roads closing at 10am. Thats to allow for the Ulster GP practice sessions and also the Dundrod 150 races. They are due to reopen before 7.30pm.

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On Saturday roads close at 9.30am and are allowed to remain closed until 8.30pm. Thats in case the racing is held up, and can be run during the day. Hopefully they will be open again by about 6pm, with all racing safely finished.

I dont propose to go through each class, due to constraints of space, but looking at the entries, some of the races in the Dundrod 150 look like mini Ulster GP races. In the Dundrod Challenge race, held on the Thursday, men like Chris Palmer, Paul Owen, Shaun Anderson, Jack McIlvenna, Brian McCormack and William Davison are entered. The Dundrod 150 Superbike race looks like a full UGP grid, with, if he's fit after his big TT smash, Guy Martin, Ian Lougher, Cameron Donald, Bruce Anstey, Michael and William Dunlop, Ian Hutchinson, Gary Johnston, not to mention Ryan Farquhar, Keith Amor, Michal Dokoupil and a few of the other top names.

In the Supersport 600 class, the entry list is pretty much the same as the Superbike with men like Hutchy, the Dunlops, Farquhar, Anstey and Donald and Lougher all due to come to the line. The 250GP class, has a small entry, but a quality one. Lougher, Paul Owen, Barry Davidson, Davy Morgan, Chris Palmer,Darren Burns, the Dunlop boys and Denver Robb should ensure a good race. Ryan Farquhar must start as favourite to win the Supertwins race, but he wont have it as easy as he apparently gets it in national races here. There are a few useful visitors to give him a hard time.

In another boost, this year the Classic riders are back racing at Dundrod.

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Admission to Bike Week events will be by armband, which will cost 15. This includes entry to Wednesday and Thursdays practice sessions, as well as Saturday’s races. It also allows entry to the paddock during the week. The race programme will cost 5. Thats nothing when you consider that its the only way that you can follow racing. Riders numbers are all different from their normal numbers when they race at home.

I will have a full round up of Bike Week in next weeks Times.

CLADY RUN REMINDER

You will recall that I told you last week that the Clady Vintage Run was this Friday night. It used to start at Killead Church, but this year it has been moved, to start at Loanends Presbyterian Church, about halfway up the Seven Mile Straight.

I look forward to the run every year, as I love to see old bikes and cars being used the way they were meant to be. Sign on is at 6.30pm at the Church Hall.

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