Riders
defy damp conditions to produce exciting racing.
To
days penultimate round of the Irish Superbike Championships took place at St
Angelo in mixed conditions. It was a trying day for the new Club, the
Enniskillen & District MCC, who were running the meeting for their first
time.
Despite
a rather damp start to the proceedings, the track dried out as the meeting went
on, and produced some very exciting racing.
Three
more championships were decided today, Ballycastles Charles Stuart lifted his
first ISB title, a remarkable achievement, in only his third season of racing,
Jason Lynn did the double in the 500 class, to take the Irish 600 championship,
to add to his Mondello Masters championship, and Rookie, Simon Reid clinching
the Irish supertwin championship, at the same circuit where his Father, Brian,
began his racing career!
Starting
from pole position, Reid took both supertwin races, after edging ahead of local
rider, Paul Gartland,with James Cotterall in third.
In
the stock twins, it was Shane Sweeney who took his first double win, second
overall went to rookie, Gary McCoy, with Jonny Singeleton and Christopher
Connoly each taking 3rd and 4th placings.
Despite
gear selection problems in the second pre injection race, Andy Brady dominated
both races, Darryl Sharkey saw his championship lead shrink, when he crashed
out of race two, after taking second in race one.third in race one, Jonny Irwin
could only muster 5th in race two, whilst Dermot Cleary scored his
best ever results, exactly one year after starting racing, Cleary was 4th
in race one, before improving to 2nd in race two! Evergreen Alan
Graham took 3rd in race tow, having finished 5th in race
one.
Christain
Elkin was in a class of his own, taking an undisputed double in the moto
three races. Cahal Graham took second in each outing, despite loosing power in
race one!. But the biggest cheer went to local lassie, Melissa Kennedy, who was
4th in race one, but took a hard earned third in race two!.
Mark
Camblin took over the lead in a hotly contested championship, when he
took a double, Rookie Gary McCoy took second in race one, with Enda Treaty
doing likewise in race 2.third in each race was championship leader Dean
Campbell.Stephen McAdoo and Gary McCoy each had a 4th place finish.
Charles
Stuart dominated the opening superbike race, to beat Ryan Gibson by over 16
seconds.Mark Glasgow kept his championship hopes alive when he took third spot
ahead of James Kelly and local lad Aaron Armstrong.
In
race two, the race was re started twice, due to a couple of incidents. this
time it was Cody Nally, showing form of old, coming from a rather nasty spill
at Bishopscourt a few weeks ago, Nally made a wrong tyre choice and had to
retire from race one, but in the second outing , along with the fastest lap of
the day at 59.921, Nally took the win by 5 seconds from Stuart, with Ryan
Gibson, continuing to impress in third place.
Mark
Glasgow lost his challenge for the 2017 ISB title when he crashed out,
thankfully without injury, thus leaving Charles Stuart to clinch the series.
This
is indeed a remarkable run for the ballycastle rider, who is only in his third
season of circuit racing. The former endure rider began racing three years ago
in the Formula One class, on board his Aprillia, he took the championship in
his first season, last year, he moved to the ISB cup class on board a 1000
Suzuki, and took his second championships in as many seasons, and now, the ISB
championship!.
Korie
McCreevey took the win in the opening 600 race from Champion elect Jason Lynn,
but was a retirement in the second race.
Lynn
snatched second place at the final corner, demoting hotshot Eunan McGlinchey to
third, but well clear of Ross Patterson, who had held second spot until
suffering from brake problems.
In
race two ,McGlinchey held the lead until half distance when slow starting Jason
Lynn edged ahead to take the win by 3.7 seconds from Ross Patterson, who nipped
ahead of McGlinchy at the final bend!. Aaron Armstrong and Darren Keys both put
in creditable performances to finish on the leaderboard.
Looking
over the other classes, John McAlister took a double in the 250 class, with
Kevin Lavery a double 600 cup race winner. Chris Campbell dominated the F1
class, whilst Brendan Glover was a double winner in the young guns class, with
Cameron Dawson in second spot each time. Paul Demaine was a double Superbike
cup race winner whilst Sam Laffins, taking time out from his KTM championship
exploits, snatched a last lap victory from race one winner, Jonny Campbell and
Andrew Smyth..
Due
to an incident on the start line in race two, the classic competitors only got
one race.
Barry
Davison topped the 250 class form Brian Mateer and Nigel Moore, Linton Irwin
was best of the 350 runners well clear of second man, Nicky Lamb and
Freddie Stewart. Alex Conroy was the best of the 500 brigade with
David Carleton in second spot ahead of Billy Lyle, with Robert McCrum the best
of the 1000 runners.
Despite
the conditions to day, there was one new lap record set!, Gareth Keys set a new
lap record for the Forgotten Era class on his beautiful sounding 350 yamaha..
Earlier
in the week, the Enniskillen and District MCC announced, that they had been
given the green light for a new proposed road race in 2018, lets hope that this
new club achieves their goal.
Thanks to all The Medics, Marshalls, Officials, Spectators and not forgetting the
competitors, for yet another exciting race meeting at St Angeleo.
Words;
Baylon McCaughey
Photo
Credits;Ryan Fegan
#15;Rookie
Simon Reid, double winner at St Angeleo;2017 irish Short Circuit Supertwin
champion
#57,Korie
McCreevey, First 600 race winner.
#25
Charles Stuart, 2017 ISB Champion.
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