Killalane Road Races were next on the Davy Morgan Racing agenda, the final Irish Road Race of the year and the team were hoping for a change of fortune after a run of machine breakdowns at recent race meetings.

Sadly racing took a back seat as Victor Gilmore former teammate to Davy in the Crossgar Poultry Team under the guidance of John Bell, crashed on the opening lap of the Supersport Race and later died in hospital from his injuries. We all lost a friend on Sunday 12th September when Victor died at the Killalane Road Races, everyone involved with Davy Morgan Racing and the #71 Road Racing Supporters Club would like to extend their deepest condolences to Victor’s family, close friends and team who have lost a father, son, good friend and rider, our thoughts and prayers are with you all at this difficult and sad time. The road race paddock’s across Ireland and Europe will be a poorer place without Victor and his cheeky smile, rest in peace #70.

Practice
On the racing front it was a bad start to the weekend when the CSC Branson R6 Yamaha developed a problem when warming for practice and after a trip to the dyno it was agreed that Davy could not go out in practice and the process started to change the engine to try and get going in the race on Sunday, this included a run back home to pick up the spare engine. Davy did get an early run on the Davy Morgan #71 Road Racing Supporters Club Honda with the newcomers to get it run in after it broke at the Manx Grand Prix. There was only one timed session for Davy and a disappointing 11th place on the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki in the Open Class. The rain came in shortly after and all the sessions were untimed so Davy chose not to risk going out again as there was a lot of shiny tar.

This meant that he would start at the back of the A Group in the Open Races on the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki, on the front row on the DM#71RRSC Honda in the Junior Race and after explaining his difficulties with the CSC Branson R6 the organisers agreed to slot him into the front row of the B Group for the Supersport Race.

Race Day
Race day and the first one was the Junior Race and everyone was hopeful of a good start to the day, frustratingly it did not get far as the 250cc Honda seized solid on the warm-up lap and so Davy did not even get a start and with Barry Davidson finishing second it meant that Davy dropped to third in the Irish Road Race Championship, but did manage to hold on to second place in the prestigious 2-Stroke Supporters Club Championship.

This breakdown definitely knocked Davy’s confidence and in the Open Championship Race he managed a lowly and very disappointing 13th place finish on the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki, which included a run round the wrong side of Kearney’s Tree.

pic : Joe Connolly

pic : Baylon McCaughey - www.irishracephotography

Somehow Davy needed to pick himself up and he did just that with a terrific run despite it being around 16 bhp down on the previous engine on the CSC Branson R6 Yamaha in the Supersport Race and not only won the B Group, but was also well in to the A Group runners on corrected time to claim an excellent 7th place finish.

This obviously lifted everyone’s spirits and another strong run in the Grand Final saw him come home in a creditable 8th place and a much better performance on the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki with a lap over two seconds quicker than he had gone in the Open Race. This completed his days racing and much better finish to the day than how it had started.

Speaking afterwards a quiet Davy commented, “It’s been another bad day for our sport and I want first of all to pay my condolences to Victor’s family and friends, he was a character and he will be missed.”

“On the racing front it has been another frustrating meeting with the R6 problem and then the 250 seizing, my confidence was gone as I just thought everything was going to break after so many problems recently. I enjoyed the run on the 600 and that helped and so I was able to go out in the Grand Final and ride with a bit more confidence. I was pleased for Steve (Caffyn) that we got a decent result on the R6 as it has been a difficult year with it. Its supposed to be Scarborough next week, but we will have to say how much damage both to bike’s and finance’s this weekend has been before we make a decision on that. “