Courtney Wins Carrowdore 100

James Courtney
James Courtney
John Anderton
John Anderton
It was the third short circuit this year to host a 'road race' meeting, this time being the turn of the Belfast & District Club running the Carrowdore 100 at Kirkistown. After not being able to run their Easter Monday meeting and the cancellation of the real road race they hosted a two day event over the County Down circuit.

Racing on Friday evening got underway in excellent conditions with the three Imperial Tobacco Championships each staging a race. After a thrilling race in the Superkings 125cc class, it was John Laverty who finally took the race win after a four-way dice, between himself, John Anderton, Mark Lunney and Davy Lemon.

In the Regal 600cc Race, after being red-flagged it was Ryan Rainey who took the honours winning over an aggregate time. In the Lambert & Butler race it was the excellent James Courtney who took the big 996 IFS Ducati to the top spot.

Saturday morning was not so favourable weather wise, with driving rain and a strong wind. Thankfully, come race time the rain had stopped and the wind eased, so throughout the day the track gradually dried. In the big bike class there was three different winners from three races. Alex Donaldson on the Uel Duncan Racing Honda recorded his first national race win when he lead the field home in the first Lambert & Butler, and in the second open race of the day in was Richard Britton who charged to the lead and never looked back taking a win on the PJ O'Kane Yamaha.

While James Courtney grabbed a double win over the weekend by winning the feature race of the day the 'Mermaid Supporters Club - Carrowdore 100 race'. In the Regal 600 it was Adrian Archibald who took the first of the race wins, in difficult enough conditions with his sparring partner Richard Britton taking second. In the second race later in the day with better conditions Ryan Rainey took his second 600 race win, in identical circumstances as his first win on Friday evening when the race was red flagged and run over an aggregate time.

In the smaller classes John Anderton and Andrew Boyd took their first wins of the season in the Superkings 125cc Race. While, in the 250cc Aprilia Class there was a shock defeat for Marshall Neill who after taking the first race from Geoff Swann, was beaten by a charging Alan Pagan to give him his first race win in the Aprilia Series when he pipped Neill to the post.

Overall a good weekend was had by all and a smoothly run event by the Belfast and District Club. Just let's make sure that the 'Carrowdore 100' will be back home on the roads in 2002.


At this stage, I would just like to wish my good friend Seamus Greene who crashed heavily on Friday evening injuring his neck and back, a full and speedy recovery. You can send any well wishes to Seamus via myself at stephenwilson@ttwebsite.com, and I will past them on as I visit him.


Yours in sport
Stephen Wilson
stephenwilson@ttwebsite.com



LINK: www.roadracing.fsnet.co.uk





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