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Courtney Wins Carrowdore 100 |
James Courtney | 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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