All roads led to County Tyrone for the opening Irish Road Race of the season at the Cookstown 100. On the Orritor Circuit that Davy is not a big fan off he was hoping to get some good outings to get a good feel of the bikes before the North West 200 and TT. Armed with the Strangford Holiday Park GSXR1000 Suzuki, CSC Branson R6 Yamaha and Davy Morgan #71 Supporter Club 250cc Honda the team headed up on Thursday evening to get set-up and look forward to a dry and safe weekend's racing.

PRACTICE:
Practice on friday in near perfect conditions went a lot better than in previous years with Davy qualifying comfortably on all three machines. The day started with an untimed session on the Suzuki, before the timed sessions started with the Supersport session.

With hopefully the electrical problems solved Davy headed out hoping to get a good position and more importantly a decent time. The track was busy, but Davy managed to put in the thirteenth quickest time to qualify for the championship race and only 1.3 seconds behind the time of the eighth place qualifier. Next up was the Superbike (Open) session and Davy got in several very good laps, lapping the Orritor Circuit over two seconds quicker than he had done at any time in 2009. That was positive and it gave him tenth overall in a strong field and a front row start from the second group. The final session was on the 250cc Honda and after a slow start he mamaged to get a time in that put him in third behind the two Dunlop boys and a front row start. So qualification for all of his races and very respectable times as he continues to get to grips with his new mounts.

Davy speaking on Friday after practice, "It all went okay i suppose, i would have liked to be further up on the supersport grid, but i suppose at least i qualified this year. All the bikes feel good and with the two new bikes in particular, everytime i go out on them i get more used of how you need to ride them as they are radically different from anything else i have ever ridden. So roll on tomorrow and some more fun".

RACE DAY:
Conditions were much coller on race morning and the whole team was hoping for a safe day with some solid results to boost confidence and allow Davy to move forward to the two up-coming international meetings.

First up was the Non-Championship Superbike Race and Davy made a slow start on the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki and found himself in fifteenth at th end of the opening lap. As the race progressed he worked his way up the leaderboard with some steady laps.

pic : Joe Connolly

He eventually broke clear of Linsdell and McCormack and caught Sweeney with two laps to go to bring the Suzuki home in a respectable eleventh with his fastest ever lap around Cookstown at 1 min & 27.7 sec.

It was a quick change as the he was out in the very next race on the Davy Morgan #71 Supporters Club 250cc Honda. A solid start saw him in third place at the end of the opening lap, with Hamilton, Burns and Davidson right on his tail. For the remainder of the race he and young Wayne Hamilton went head to head with the youngster having a quicker bike and being very good on the brakes getting the better in to Gortin, but Davy's Road Race ability and experience meaning that he got back to third up round the back of the circuit. Davy did hold him off and took a very satisfactory place on the final step of the podium in third.

The Supersport Race was next and on the CSC Branson R6 Yamaha, Davy was hoiping for another solid finish and more importantly racing miles on the new machine. From the middle of the second group Davy got into a race long duel with McKnight and Burrows with all three swapping positions throughout and when he eventually got the better of them on the final couple of laps he brought the Yamaha home in twelfth and was able to set his fastest ever lap on a Supersport machine at Cookstown.

Davy's final race of the day was again on the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki in the Cookstown 100 Feature Race and another solid start saw him eleventh on lap one and in a great dice with McCormack, Walsh and Linsdell. Davy was getting faster and faster as the race went on and he saw his rivals off even with the rear tyre starting to spin up and slide and on his final circuit ensured an excellent top ten finish in the main race of the day with a time of 1 min 26.3 sec, his fastest ever lap around the Orritor Circuit and by quite a margin.

Davy commented after the race, "I suppose it has been a good weekend, we have got a lot of miles on the bikes and had some very enjoyable races with a lot of close racing. In the 250cc race young (Wayne) Hamilton had a quick bike and riding circuits as well he was very good on the brakes and he really made me work for my podium finish. I have got to say there was nothing dangerous or rash in his riding considering his in-experience on roads. I would of liked to be further up the leaderboard on both the CSC Branson 600 and Strangford Holiday Park Superbike, but i did my fastest ever times around Cookstown on both bikes, with my quickest being almost five seconds quicker than before. Its just a real pity there is no Tandragee next week as i love it unlike this place and with the way the bikes are going and handling i would have been really confident of better results as it is a real riders circuit. We just have to look forward to the North West, some more racing miles and be preapred for the TT".

Steve Caffyn (Team Principle) said, "It has been a good day, we are home safe and Davy did some very good times and got some solid results on bikes that he is not fully familiar with yet. It was his first real racing of the year and as a team we are really happy with the progress over the weekend in preparation for the season ahead".