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Mission accomplished for Cummins in 2011

Conor Cummins declared it was 'mission accomplished' at the recent conclusion of his 2011 National Superstock 1000cc Championship with the Blackhorse Kawasaki rider satisfied with his efforts and progress over the course of the campaign. Fighting back from the injuries he sustained at the Isle of Man TT in 2010, the 25-year old hadn't even sat on a bike until March but he made good progress throughout the season with a best result of seventh at Oulton Park.

The final round took place on the Brands Hatch GP circuit and after a strong opening free practice session, held on the shorter Indy circuit, Conor placed 19th in Saturday morning's opening qualifying session. With dry conditions all around the 2.4-mile circuit, the Manxman was able to reduce his time by over half a second in final qualifying and a lap of 1m30.341s saw him move up the order to 17th to head off the fifth row of the grid.

Heavy overnight rain meant it was a damp start to race day but by the time of the 12-lap Superstock race, it was dry and sunny and a superb opening few corners saw Conor move into 12th place on lap 1 although the pace car was immediately out on track due to an incident. No sooner had it come out then another crash took place as the riders bunched up and with injured riders to attend to the red flag came out and the race was stopped. The organisers then took the decision to cancel the race entirely much to the disappointment of the entire Superstock 1000cc field.


Reflecting on the meeting and the year, Conor said:

"Brands was definitely one of my better qualifying performances and I made a great start to the race so it was a shame it came to nothing. Safety has to come first though and with 2 serious accidents out on track, they had to stop the race - it was just disappointing that we couldn't have the race re-started. It was Brands where I had my first race outing of the year back in April and compared to the meeting last weekend, they've been like night and day. Back in April, I couldn't change gear properly and had no strength in my shoulder so I've had to work extremely hard all year to get to the point where I am now and I can't quite believe how big the difference has been. It's been a difficult year, character building as they say, but, overall, I'm chuffed with how it's all gone. I've treated it very much as a rebuilding year but it's gone far and above what I expected and it's great to be able to ride a bike fast again and have my confidence restored."

"It's definitely been a case of 'mission accomplished' and I'm really looking forward to 2012 now and having a real good go. My head's straight, I can ride a bike - and ride it fast - and everything's there for me to get back to where I was in 2010 and winning races again so I'll be training hard all over the winter to give me the best possible chance of doing just that. I'd like to say a big thank you to the Blackhorse Kawasaki and McAdoo Kawasaki team and also to all my personal sponsors - Solway Slate & Tile Ltd, Pokerstars, Houses to Rent, Isle of Man Sport Aid, Motorsport Merchandise, Shark Helmets, TCX boots, Scott Leathers and Kenyon Crowe. I'd also like to say thanks to everyone who's supported me and wished me well this year - it's meant an awful lot and has been a great help in getting me through the year."

Conor does have one more outing this year with a return to the Macau Grand Prix where he'll be hoping to go one better than his 2009 result when he finished a close second to Stuart Easton. He'll be riding for the Paul Bird Kawasaki World Superbike team with the meeting taking place from November 18-20.


Picture by Glynne Lewis

Phil Wain
Freelance PR

Well done Connor !

well done but macau shocking place with unprotected armco