Friday Night Practice

As I took to the circuit in almost perfect conditions it was unbelievably slippy, the new surface on the run from the hairpin combined with the dust blowing from the fields at times made it feel like we were riding on water. It was the same for everyone and I just had to get on with it. The 600cc & 250cc sessions were pretty uneventful; I got the five laps in both done comfortably and qualified fifth on the Investasure/John Bell R6 and third on the Ballygowan RRSC Honda. The Touchwood Consulting Kawasaki was a different kettle of fish, what with the extra power and the back end still needing some work, on the slippery track it was near impossible to ride and after two laps I pulled in and disappointingly had failed to qualify. At least I would get a few more miles on it in the non-qualifiers race so all was not lost as we must keep in our minds that we are still on the learning curve with it.

Saturday Race Day

It was more sunshine on Saturday morning and it looked like we were in for some high-speed racing. The usual big crowd was assembling around the circuit so we were all hoping for a safe days racing.

The Green Clean Ltd 600cc Race was first on the schedule and I was confident of a good result. I got away well with the front-runners, but Ryan (Farquhar) was in a race of his own as he disappeared out front as I held on to the tail of the four riders in front of me headed by Darran (Lindsay). Richard (Britton) made a mistake and ran wide then I saw Ryan standing at Dublin corner and knew I was in fourth although beginning to lose touch with the three in front. I got into what I thought was a good rhythm, but I relaxed too much and was caught by Victor (Gilmore) who eventually got past me and was riding really well.

pic : Stephen Wilson - www.realroadracing.com

Then the race was stopped when Darran crashed so it would be a two-part race. No mistakes second time around, I latched on to the back of Martin (Finnegan) and Adrian (Archibald) early on which pulled me well clear off Victor and gave me a hard fought podium finish in third place and well pleased. There was the usual goings on after the race with the 600 rule horlicks and exclusions, but no matter as far as I was concerned I had finished third and was happy.

Next up was the Street Sweep 2 Stroke Racing Supporters Club 250cc Race and it turned out to be a cracker and a thoroughly enjoyable ride on the little Honda. I didn’t get away all that well and found myself in fourth place, for the first few laps it was a six way dice and very close. By half distance Richard (Britton) and myself had broken clear of the rest and had what was a terrific dice to the flag. We were changing places at every opportunity, but it was clean and tidy and the thrill that it gave is the reason we go racing.

In the end I pipped Richard by 0.092 second to take the win, which had me buzzing as I moved to the top of the 2 Stroke RSC Championship with Andrew (Neill) finishing back in third.

There was no time to enjoy the victory, as the very next race was the non-qualifiers and my chance to get some important miles on the Touchwood Consulting ZX10. After the disastrous practice it was a B Group start and I decided just to go for it and make sure I got miles on the bike. Handling still was not as I would like, but I kept going and got some consistent laps in. I soon found myself in among and cutting through the A Group riders, so I knew I was well up the leader board. On the final lap out of the hairpin I came on Barry (Davidson) and Tim (Maher), it looked like they were having there own battle so I decided to just follow them across the line so as not to mess them up.

However, Tim got the chicane wrong and was nearly off and actually kicked me with his flying foot as I went past him, we all got finished and when I got back to the paddock discovered I had actually won the race by over fourteen seconds. It was an unbelievable feeling and although it was a non-qualifiers race I knew it was a big step forward on the Superbike. I also did my fastest lap of the day on the penultimate lap at 1:43.692 and a race time that would have got me fifth place finish in the Championship Open Race behind Finnegan, Archibald, Britton and Walsh.

I took the Investasure/John Bell R6 out for the Des D’Arcy Grand Final as at the time I thought I was lapping quicker on it than the ZX10, which turned out not the case as I found out later, but that’s the way it goes. I had another good, solid, uneventful run and finished a pleasing seventh and the second 600cc machine home behind the extra special 600 Kawasaki of Ryan. So a good finish to a brilliant day.

pic : Joe Connolly - www.bigjoephotos.eu

pic : Stephen Wilson - www.realroadracing.com

With a broad smile Davy said afterwards, “A superb day with four very pleasing results and by far my best ever overall National Road Race. To win and lap so quickly on the ZX10 was especially pleasing after all the problems, although we still have a bit to go yet. The 250cc Race was amazing and the most enjoyable as Richard (Britton) is brilliant to ride with. To top it all we got a few pounds gathered up, which will help keep us going”