Cookstown 100 opens the Road Race season

The road racing season kicked off last weekend at the CDE Cookstown 100 Road races.

The oldest road race on the calendar, in its 101st year, was scheduled to take place with practice sessions and three races on Friday, followed by a busy 14-race schedule on Saturday.

The 2.1-mile circuit is a favourite for riders from both near and far who come not only with the desire to win races but also as preparation for larger events such as the North West 200 and the Isle of Man TT.

Roads closed early on Friday as qualifying got under way.

Enniskillen Club members

Enniskillen and District Motorcycle Club members who have a range of experience in the sport were in various classes.

The popular Junior Support entry level class saw Enniskillen’s Liam Trainer qualifying in ninth position, with club members Caomhan Canny in 13th, Adrian Heraty in 22nd and road race newcomer Michael McKernan from Fintona in 28th grid place.

In the Junior Classic, Kyle Parks from Blacklion was the only club member in this class to qualify in sixth place, and in Senior Classic, club member Robert McCrum qualified in fourth position, and in the Senior Support class it was Keith Richardson, on his Supersport machine, who qualified in seventh place, with Caomhan taking the 13th grid position.

Saturday Racing Results

With three of the B races being run on Friday evening, Saturday still had a busy schedule of 14 races, but with rain forecast for the full day it was guaranteed that there would be no lap records set.

The Senior support race was first to assess conditions but not seeming too deterred, the full grid of riders soon set the pace, with club member Keith Richardson finishing in third place behind Anthony O’Carroll and Dean Lacey.

Richardson, who had got a great start off the line, was delighted with his third-place finish which was what he described as a childhood dream to stand on the podium at a road race, and this will hopefully be the first of many.

In the same class, club member and road race newcomer Caomhan Canny finished in a steady seventh place.

The combined moto 3/300 Supersport class was next on the schedule and saw club member Kyle Parkes finish in the moto 3 in eighth place.

The top-three finishers in the moto 3 were 1st, Mike Browne; 2nd, Nigel Moore; 3rd, Gary Jordan.

In the Supersport 300 class, it was long-time road racer Barry Davidson who took his 100th road race win; 2nd, RJ Woolsey; and 3rd, Linton Irwin.

The Lightweight Supersport class was up next with Darryl Tweed taking first place; 2nd, James Chawke; and 3rd, Aiden Cleary.

The Supersport new generation class was the first of the bigger machines on the circuit but following two Red Flag incidents and declining weather, this was declared a result after just three laps with Cork man Mike Brown taking the win from Michael Dunlop and Darryl Tweed in third.

The Junior Classic 250cc were now out in very wet conditions with the top three finishers 1st, Barry Davidson; 2nd, Jonathan Watt; 3rd, RJ Woolsey; while club member Kyle Parks finished in 10th place. In the 350cc classic race, it was 1st, Barry Davidson; 2nd, Nigel Moore; 3rd, Andy Hornby; and club member Robert McCrum in eighth place.

The Senior Classic 500cc class was won by Wattie Brown, with 2nd for Davidson and Nigel Moore in 3rd

The Senior Classic 1000cc was won by Andy Hornby; 2nd, Robert McCrum; and 3rd, Andy Kildea.

Next up was the Supertwin A race which was over eight laps, and again, declared a wet race. This time it was crowd pleaser Michael Dunlop on the McAdoo Kawasaki who played the wet conditions to his advantage and took the win, with Daniel Ingham in second, followed by Anthony O’Carroll.

Enniskillen’s Liam Trainer was forced to retire after just two laps with a fault with his machine, and club member Adrian Heraty chose not to compete.

Deteriorating conditions

The first of two Junior support classes set off in what was now continuous rain and reduced visibility; after three laps the race was stopped due to a racing incident.

The race was declared a result based on the three laps completed with the top three finishers as Daniel Ingham, Anthony O’Carroll and Aaron Spence. The only Enniskillen club member in this race was Caomhan Canny, who finished in seventh place.

With the second Junior support competitors now on the grid, the clerk of the course and officials took a sighting lap to inspect the deteriorating conditions, and ruled that due to standing surface water the event would be abandoned on safety grounds, and brought the day to an early close.

Although a disappointing outcome for those riders who did not get their race, and for the spectators who were looking forward to the superbike feature race, the consensus was that this was the right decision.

The next road race will be the North West 200 race week which is due to take place from May 7-14. All fans and visitors are encouraged to support the event and buy a programme.

If you would like to start racing, get involved or volunteer at any racing events, take the first step and join Enniskillen and District Motorcycle Club, who can guide you in the right direction.