Bright sunshine greeted everyone at Oliver’s Mount for the annual Barry Sheene Road Race Festival, as practice got underway 9.00am, followed by qualifying, all incident free.

The first of nine races, the combined first leg of the Syd Barnett & Red Rose Trophy races over six laps for 350cc and 250cc classic machines went away on time at 1.00pm.

Adam Lonsdale on his 350 BSA Goldstar led at the end of the opening lap, but after another circuit it was 250cc rider Pete Wakefield who headed the file on his Suzuki., with Lonsdale leading the 350cc class, but he stepped off next time round at the Esses, hurting only his pride, gifting the lead to Grant Sellars in the bigger of the classes, with Wakefield still in front on the road at the half distance lap.

No changes to the race leaders on the fourth lap, as Geoff Hadwin moved into second place ahead of Ted Fenwick in the quarter-litre class.
Positions remained the same at the end of the penultimate lap and at the chequered flag Peter Wakefield took the 250 honours ahead of Grant Sellars who took the 350cc honours.


Race two, for Modern Solos up to 400cc and SuperTwins had Ryan Farquhar take the hole-shot.

At the end of the first of eight laps it was Farquhar ahead of Ivan Lintin and Mike Minns, positions that remained the same for the full race distance, with Ryan extending his winning lead to 16.950 seconds. James Cowton took the 400cc win.


Race three for Modern Solos, this time 600cc and over, once again over eight laps.

In pole position was Keith Pringle and who took the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin and led by 3.4 seconds at the end of the lap from Mark Lister and Mick Goodings. Ivan Lintin was fourth and the first of the 600’s, followed by Ryan Farquhar and Dave Woolams.

Lister dropped to fourth on lap two with positions remaining the same on the third lap with Farquhar pulling into the paddock with handling problems on his KMR Kawasaki.

Half distance and Pringles advantage was seconds over Mick Goodings, as brother Mark moved into sixth.

At the end of the fifth lap the lead had climbed to over six seconds, with positions staying static. A lap later and the lead had increased by a further two seconds and at the chequered flag it was Keith Pringle by 12.262 seconds from Mick Goodings and Ivan Lintin.


Next up was the first leg of the Geoff Barry and Denis Parkinson Trophy races, also over eight laps of the 2.43-mile circuit.

Keith Pringle once again had the pole position and took the pack into Mere Hairpin and up Sheene’s Rise.

Pringle had 0.8 of a second lead at the end of the first lap from John McFarlane and Ryan Farquhar, who was leading the 500cc category.

Positions remained the same at the end of the second lap, but the lead had been cut in half to 0.414 of a second.

Lap three and the gap had closed to 0.243 of a second, as placings remained the same.

At half distance, it was all change at the front with Farquhar taking the lead on the road from McFarlane with Pringle dropping to third.

Lap five and Farquhar’s lead was just under half a second, as McFarlane put up the fastest lap of the race at 72.978mph, with Pringle some 8 seconds down on the leader.

At three-quarter distance it was McFarlane leading, with Farquhar now 4 seconds down.

Lap seven and Ryan Farquhar retired at Mountside with machine problems, letting Pringle and Neil Vicars move into second and third on the road and a lap later John McFarlane took the win by 11.9343 seconds from Keith Pringle and Neil Vicars. The 500cc class was won by James Cowton.


It was back to the Modern machines for the second leg of the 400’s and the SuperTwins, which once again proved to be a Ryan Farquhar benefit having a lead at the end of the opening lap of 1.5 seconds from Ivan Lintin and extended it to 10.516 seconds at the flag from Lintin, with James Cowton taking third a further 42 seconds adrift.


Race six was the second leg of the combined Geoff Barry and Denis Parkinson Trophy races.

Keith Pringle led at the end of the opening lap, but put his hand up as he crossed the line and retired to the paddock, letting Ryan Farquhar into the lead, from John MacFarlane and Neil Vicars.

Ryan’s lead had increased to 7.6 seconds at the end of the second lap and by half distance it was over 23 seconds.

Ryan took the chequered flag four laps later by no less than 69 seconds.


Then it was time for the second leg of the combined Syd Barnett (350cc) and the Red Rose (250cc) Trophy race over six laps.

Peter Wakefield found a gap and went to the front and into Mere Hairpin first and maintained the lead at the end of the lap from Geoff Hadwin and Grant Sellars who was leading the 350cc class.

Wakefield’s lead was up to seven and a half seconds, as Robin Stokes got ahead of Grant Sellars to lead the Junior category.

At half distance Wakefield’s lead was up to 11 seconds, as Stokes moved into second spot.

Grant Sellars moved back into second place on the fourth lap.

Peter Wakefield took the chequered flag some 11.332 seconds ahead of Grant Sellars and Geoff Hadwin.


The feature race of the meeting was next, the six lap Barry Sheene Trophy Race for Classic Superbikes.

With only four riders on the grid, Ryan Farquhar opened up a near on 9 second lead at the end of the opening lap from Neil Vicars and extended his advantage to 17.5 seconds after three of the six laps and at the chequered flag the gap was 25.929 seconds. Neil Vicars finished second and Bry Bayes third.


The final race of the programme the second leg of the Modern machines of 600cc and over.

Keith Pringle took the hole-shot from Mick Goodings. At the end of the opening lap it was still Pringle by three-quarters of a second from Goodings and Mark Lister, who had fluffed the start!

Pringle increased his lead to 2 second after a second circuit, with positions remaining the same, as it did for the next two laps, enjoying a 4 second lead at half-distance.

Ivan Lintin moved into third place on lap six displacing Mark Lister, as the lead increased to just short of six seconds.

Places remained static on the penultimate lap, with the lead at 6.17 seconds and at the flag it was Keith Pringle enjoying a 6.8 second advantage over Mick Goodings, with Ivan Lintin third three seconds adrift.

That’s it folks, the next meeting at Oliver’s Mount is the Cock O’the North Road Races on Saturday and Sunday 23rd & 24th July 2011.






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