It was back to the Irish National scene and the Bush Road Races next for Davy Morgan Racing and with a dodgy weather forecast it was going to be a hit or miss weekend. The CSC Branson R6 Yamaha was still not ready after its TT woes so Davy would be competing on the Strangford Holiday Park/ Leisure Services Suzuki Superbike and the Davy Morgan #71 RRSC 250cc Honda.

With track time required to get his confidence back-up after his TT difficulties it did not help when practice became a washout as heavy rain swept in just before the start of practice and all the riders were restricted to five controlled laps in very wet and slippery conditions. Davy did his laps on the Strangford Holiday Park/ Leisure Services Suzuki and came in wet, dirty, cold and a belly pan full of water before setting off home in the hope that the Saturday would be better.

It rained all night and the paddock was a quagmire by morning so the wheels had to be wrapped in cling film and the truck would definitely need towed out after racing. The organisers decided to give everyone three laps dry practice as the circuit was drying and the weather looking promising, however a classic machine spilt oil and the start of racing was delayed by two hours.

With an all new race order and all the races now cut by two laps Davy’s first outing was on the Davy Morgan #71 RRSC 250cc Honda and at the end of the opening lap he was in third place and had moved to second at the beginning of lap two when the red flags came out and the race halted. On the restart of what was now a disappointing three lap sprint the little Honda bogged down off the line and Davy found himself back in sixth. As they headed on to the final circuit he was up to third, but in his efforts to catch second he got one of the road ends wrong and ended up the slip road. He re-joined the race and came home a creditable if frustrating sixth.

With no Supersport Machine there was a bit of sitting around before his next outing in the Irish Senior Championship Race on-board the Strangford Holiday Park/ Leisure Services Suzuki. By this stage of proceedings all races were reduced to four laps so it was to be a difficult twelve mile sprint. Davy made a solid start and was fifth at the end of the opening lap and next time around the was up to fourth and held this position until the final corner where he defended his line and lost out when the Suzuki wheelied down the hill to the finish and he had to settle for a solid fifth place. That was it for the day as he had no entry for the Grand Final, but at least he got some miles of close racing to set him up for the remainder of the year.

Speaking afterwards Davy commented, “Not a bad day although the race distances were a joke and left no margin for error, which I found out to my cost on the 250. In the first start I was looking at a solid second place finish, as I was never catching Wayne (Hamilton) and then I messed up the restart and I had to try too hard and made a couple of basic errors when aiming for second when I probably should have settled for third. The Suzuki went really well and I was pleased with how it and me were performing, although I really should have finished fourth as I was just too defensive at the final corner and lost out to John (Burrows) when she wheelied down the hill. I had decided not to enter the Grand Final so that was it, seven racing laps, not exactly value for money, but at least I was out there and got some valuable if short track time after recent trials.”

“It’s now on to Skerries when hopefully the weather will be kinder and all being well we will have the CSC Branson R6 sorted as one of the engines is repaired so we will be back to our full complement of bikes. I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement over the past few weeks, which have been very, very difficult and especially Steve (Caffyn) and Trevor (Matthewson) who have been brilliant through all the difficulties and problems. I will now do my best to try and repay that support with some decent results.”