Masters Superbike
Richie Ryan took maximum points this weekend in the Irish
Masters Superbike championship as he took the treble. The Kilkenny native
dominated each of the 3 races and finished ahead of 2016 “Young Rider of the
Year” Robert English who took the three 2nd places. The three 3rd
positions went to Gerard Kinghan, Luke Johnston and Peter Moloney. This places
Richie Ryan firmly at the top of the Pro championship table.
In the Superbike Cup races, the podium looked the same for
the 3 races. Andrew Murphy extended his gap at the top winning all three from
Michael Gillan who took the three 2nd positions on offer. Raymond
O’Neill left the weekend in 4th place in the championship with his 3rd
places. Dean O’Grady remains in 3rd place in the title fight.
Supersport
The Supersport races this weekend provided unhealthy
entertainment again as these tarmac terrorists ripped the track apart as if
their lives depended on it. It was truly a spectacle to watch and the
championship table does not do justice to how the races unfurled. Jason Lynn
was the benefactor of winning 2 as Korie McGreevy won his first ever Pro
Supersport race in Mondello taking the 3rd win. It could have been a completely
different story were it not for a slip off in Race 2. Ross Patterson benefited
from 2 2nd places and a third but, Eunan McGlinchy made a headline
by becoming the first ever 600 Cup rider to stand on a Pro podium in Race 2.
Aaron Clifford returned to the podium taking 3rd position in the
first race.
Principal Insurance pre-injection
3 surprising results in the Pre-injection races this weekend
was as a result of Alan Kenny showing up. Alan laid down a marker from the
outset and took Saturday’s race win while putting in a 58 second lap. Joe Grant
and Johnny Irwin were 2nd and 3rd in Race 1. In Race 2,
brothers Michael and Ian Prendergast decided it was going to be them on the
podium and Michael deftly decided that he’d grace the 2nd spot and
leave 3rd for Ian. In race 3, Joe Grant and Darryl Sharkey replaced
both brothers by taking 2nd and 3rd to improve their
points tally in the championship.
Production Twins
Production twins were dominated again by Eunan McGlinchey winning
all three races. Jason Cash followed him home in 2nd for the three
races also. The remaining 3rd places went to Gary McCoy, Alan Rigney
and Shane Sweeney. Eunan has a comfortable lead at the top of the table with
Jason Cash in 2nd and Alan Rigney in 3rd on 120 points.
Supertwins
Dave Butler and Derek Wilson shared the top step over the
weekend with Dave taking 2 and Derek spoiling his treble in the last race on
Sunday. Derek also took the 2nd places when not winning. Simon Reid
kept his grip on 3rd place in the Championship as he claimed two 2nd
places as Liam Chawke also grabbed a 3rd in Race 3.
Dunlop Junior Cup
Brendan Glover also
had a treble this weekend in the Junior Cup class taking Race 1, 2 and 3. In
the first 2 races he had to fend off the efforts of Cameron Dawson who had to
settle for two 3rd positions and unfortunately took a tumble. Jamie
Lyons and Nathan McGauran were quite happy with their positions as Jamie took 3rd
in Race 1 and Nathan 3rd in both Sunday races. Tom Greenwood
completed the podium in Race 3 for 2nd position. Brendan leads the
championship currently.
Dunlop Young Guns
The Dunlop Young Guns championship saw runaway victories in each
race for Jonny Campbell also as he saw off the competition from Edward Keogh
who had to settle for 2nd place three times. Not a bad complaint. 3rd
place went to Ryan Desmond in Races 1 and 3 with Oisin Maher taking the last
spot on the podium in Race 2. This championship could get very interesting now
that Campbell has added 75 points to his tally.
Lightweight Supersport
Jason Cassells did his title hopes no harm by taking 2 wins
and a 3rd over the weekend. He was thwarted by rival Mark Camblin
though, who raced hard over the 2 days to come away with a 1st, 2nd
and a 3rd place on the National track. Alvin Griffin wasn’t letting
up either and he was rewarded with a 2nd and 3rd place
trophy to bring home. Dean Campbell and Jason Cassells were 2nd and
3rd respectively in Race 2. Cork racer Nicola Farrissey was present
all weekend and worked hard to reduce her lap times and that she did.
Moto3
Padraig Graham was the best performed in this class with his
2 wins and a 2nd. Jonny Campbell began the meeting with a 3rd
and gradually worked his way up to 2nd in Race 2 and then went a
step further taking the win in Race 3. Kyle Martin picked up a 2nd
and 3rd place in Race 1 and 2, while Kyle Nolan collected 3rd
in Race 3.
Superbike\Supersport B
In the Superbike “B” race on the Saturday, Alan Armstrong
took the win from Robert Toner in 2nd and Anthony Derrane 3rd
on the ZX10r. The Supersport result went the way of Stephen O’Connor from Shane
Graham in 2nd and Stephen Montgomery in 3rd all on Yamaha
R6’s. Both Sundays Superbike races were won by veteran John Cahill. Race 2 saw
John Griffin take 2nd from Kevin Maher, a result that Kevin reversed
though in Race 3.
Sundays Supersport races were won by Stephen Montgomery who
was followed home by Ryan Maher. The two 3rd places went to Chris
O’Mahony and Maurice Keogh. In qualifying, almost every “B” race competitor was
either lapping in 1 minute or less, showing how competitive the “B” races are.
F1 B
What the F1 class is lacking is quantity, but it surely
makes up for this in quality. I haven’t perused all the bikes but, Chris
Campbells ZX7r is a wolf in wolfs clothing. Still has to be ridden though, and
Chris excelled in this winning all three races. David Murran and Davin Casey
completed the podiums with David taking 2nd place in Race 1 and 3,
while Davin upstaged him for 2nd in Race 2.
Classic Superbike B
I’m unashamedly a Ducati snob, so the sound of Brian
Murphy’s 888 on the grid is music to my ears. Hearing it three times over the
weekend is a bonus. Brian put the SP4 on pole and then carried on to win all
three races but, had to work hard to keep CSBK regular Robin Heathcoate off the
top spot at all times. Brian leads the championship from Robin, with Sean
Griffin sitting in 3rd powered by his fine looking YZF750 Yamaha.
Superbike\Supersport C
Such is the level of entrants in the amalgamated Masters and
National series, it’s a regular event to see a “C” race being hosted.
In the Supersport category, Haydn Walsh didn’t hang about
and won the 3 races on the R6. Race 1 and 2 had identical podiums with Colm
Gough 2nd twice and Thomas Bermingham taking 3rd. In Race
3 John Shields was 2nd and Colm Gough 3rd.
F1 C
In the C F1 races, Adam Boyle won the 1st race
and Stephen MeGill won the remaining two with Adam taking a 2nd
place in Race 2.
Classic Superbike C
In the Classic Superbike C race it, was mainly between
Cork’s Sean Griffin and Patrick Brennan. In Race 1, Patrick took the win from
Dunshaughlin’s Philip Benson on the GSXR750 with Sean Griffin 3rd. In Race 2,
Benson DNF’d promoting Griffin into 2nd. This podium boosted Sean, who upped the ante to win Race 3 from Patrick
Brennan.
Sidecars
The “slidechairs” had an extra race last weekend on account
of missing one at Rounds 4, 5 and 6 and they didn’t disappoint when called
upon. Dylan Lynch and Dave Butler have had an excellent start to the season and
took maximum points winning all four races. However, Fergus Woodlock and a
combination of passengers including Diarmuid Cunningham and Alvin Griffin produced
a fine string of results that ended with three 2nd places and a 3rd.
Scooby Killough and Eamon Mulholland also did well with a 2nd place
and two 3rd places. The remaining 3rd place went to Denis
Cusack and Simon Mythen. Dylan leads the drivers’ championship from Scooby and
Fergus’s promising weekend sees him leapfrog Terry O’Reilly into third. The
passengers table is led by Dave Butler from Eamon Mulholland with TT veteran
Aidan Browne in 3rd place.
Classics
The Classic riders got an opportunity to shine on the
Saturday and they took full advantage. Alex Conroy made most use of the day winning
both races on the 500cc, while Tony Willis had a reliable 2nd place
in each outing. Not to be outdone, Andy Kildea also finished well, achieving
the 3rd places over the day. To put the Classic lap times into perspective,
the qualifying time are about the same as a decent Production Twin and that’s
not be sniffed at given their age and geometry\power output.
Rounds 10, 11 and 12 are back in Mondello on July 15th
and 16th.
Thanks to all the officials, medics, photographers and staff
and get well soon to those hurt while racing.
Words: Andy Quinn
Images kind permission: Jonathan Sweeney, Jimmy McGuigan, James Foley and John Burke
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