Cock o’the North Road Races – Sunday
Bright and breezy were the conditions that greeted riders and officials for the second day of practice and racing at the Cock o’the North Continental Road Races at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough.
Practice went off without incident with the Sidecar race that was postponed from Saturday being run at the conclusion of practice, prior to the lunch break.
Race 7, Sidecars second leg, held over from Saturday, run over six laps with Ian & Carl Bell getting the hole-shot and held the lead at the end of the opening lap from Greg Lambert and Conrad Harrison.
By the end of the second lap, the \Bells had opened a 4.6 second lead from the outfit of Lambert who had a one second advantage overt third place man Harrison.
At half distance the gap was up to 6.4 seconds for the leaders as Harrison closed the gap between third and second to half a second.
A further one and a have seconds were added to the Bells lead by the end of the fourth lap.
Positions remained the same at the end of the penultimate lap and at the chequered flag Bell took the victory by 9.5 seconds from Lambert with Harrison third.
Qualifying for the feature Cock o’the North Race followed prior to the lunch break with Michael Pearson taking pole position from Dean Harrison, Jamie Hamilton and Ryan Farquhar.
Race 10 for Superbikes, 2nd leg got underway on time at 1.00pm, with Ryan Farquhar having pole position and getting the hole shot into Mere Hairpin.
End of lap one saw Farquhar ahead of Dean Harrison and Michael Pearson, with Pearson moving into second half way round lap two and holding that place and the conclusion of the lap. 2.8 seconds was the gap. However Pearson pulled in to the Paddock at the start of the third lap to retire.
Lap 3 and it was Farquhar in the lead 3.99 seconds ahead of Dean Harrison with Ben Wylie now third.
Half distance saw Farquhar leading by 4.8 seconds as the gap between second and third extended to 11 seconds.
By lap six the advantage had grown to 6.2 seconds, as positions remained unchanged and at the chequered flag Farquhar took the victory by 5.88 seconds from Dean Harrison with Ben Wylie third a further 13 seconds behind.
Race 11 the third leg of the Sidecars saw the Bells retire on the grid at the end of the warm-up lap, leaving Greg Lambert to head the field for one lap before Conrad Harrison took over to lead the field home to the chequered flag followed by French driver Frank Lelias and Dave Atkinson.
Race 12 was the first leg of the 600 Supersport class, over eight laps. Daniel Frear had pole position, but it was Ryan Farquhar who grabbed the hole shot into Mere and continued to lead at the end of the first lap, 1.2 seconds ahead of Frear and Dean Harrison with Michael Pearson fourth and in close pursuit.
Pearson moved into third at the end of the second lap.
The Red Flags were shown on lap 3. Ben Wylie came off at Memorial, thankfully OK.
The restart was over six laps and Ryan got the hole shot and led the pack into Mere Hairpin, then the red flag was shown again! Two machines collided on the grid, Gary Graves and Ivan Lintin – both ok.
The programme moved on to race 14, the Ultra Lightweights (125) and 400cc race, again over eight laps.
Daniel Frear got the hole shot, but it James Cowton that was leading half way round on the opening lap and led the field at the end of the first lap half a second ahead of Frear with Chris Palmer third.
Dan Frear took over the lead on lap two and was in front at the end of the lap by 0.407 of a second, with Palmer still third.
Lap three and the gap had been reduced by a tenth of a second as positions remained static.
Half distance and the gap had increased to0.609 of a second with third place man Chris Palmer 11 seconds adrift.
Lap five and the leaders advantage had grown to 3.5 seconds with Palmer still third now 13 seconds down.
By lap six the distance between first and second had grown to 6.221 seconds.
At the chequered flag Daniel Frear took the win by 9.283 seconds from James Cowton, with Chris Palmer third.
Race 14 was next run over a reduced distance of six laps. Ryan Farquhar held pole, but it was Daniel Frear who led into Mere, however by half way round on the opening lap it was Farquhar, Michael Pearson and Frear. At the end of the lap Farquhar held the lead by 0.297 of a second from Pearson and Dean Harrison.
Pearson took the front position on the second lap, by 0.205 of a second from Farquhar, then Harrison, James Cowton and Frear, all covered by less than a second.
Half distance and Farquhar was back in front from Pearson with Frear now third and Harrison fourth.
Lap four and Harrison was back in third and Cowton moved up to fifth. The penultimate lap saw the leading gap stand at 1.745 seconds, and at the chequered flag it was Ryan Farquhar from Michael Pearson and Dean Harrison.
Race 16 was next, the second leg of the SuperTwins over six laps and once again it was ‘Flyin’ Ryan who led into Mere Hairpin and led at the end of the lap from Daniel Frear and Michael Pearson.
Ryan’s lead was reduced to half a second on the second lap, whilst Ivan Lintin was closing on Michael Pearson for third.
Half distance and Ryan had put 1.457 of a second between himself and Dan Frear.
Ivan Lintin retired to the paddock at the end of the fourth lap.
At the Chequered flag it was Ryan from Daniel and Michael Pearson.
Race 15 the second leg of the Supersport 600 race had one notable non-starter, Ryan Farquhar. The red flag was out on the opening lap! Ben Wylie and Adam Child had a coming together at the Esses – both OK!!
The restart, over the full race distance, eight laps saw Dean Harrison lead from the start and lead at the end of the first lap from Michael Pearson and Daniel Frear.
By lap two Harrison had built up a 3 second lead over Pearson, as Frear and James Cowton battling for third only 2/10th of a second apart.
Lap three and the lead was up to six seconds, as the battle for third continued apace.
Half distance and James Cowton had moved to second, one second ahead of Michael Pearson, with Dan Frear fourth. Harrisons lead was over nine seconds.
Lap five and Pearson is now only 0.200 of a second down on Cowton.
Lap six – Harrison has a 13 second lead over Pearson with Frear third.
Lap seven and positions remained static for once.
At the flag it was Harrison, Frear and Pearson, Frear grabbed second by 3/100ths of a second.
Race 17, the final leg for the Sidecars saw Ian and Carl Bell enjoy a start to finish victory over Conrad Harrison and Lee Patterson, with Frank Lelias and Mike Aylott third.
Next was race 18, the feature race – The Cock o’the North over ten laps.
Michael Pearson pulls off the grid after the warm-up lap.
Dean Harrison led at the end of the opening lap from Ryan Farquhar and Jamie Hamilton.
Positions same on lap two, but lap three Farquhar was in front, and Hamilton retired to pits, letting Kiaran Hankin into third.
By half distance Ryan’s lead was up to 1.7seconds from Dean Harrison and Kiaran Hankin.
With two laps to go, Ryan had increased his advantage to 4 seconds over Dean Harrison, who in turn had a 19 seconds in hand on third place man Hankin.
At the chequered flag Ryan Farquhar took the victory by 4.7 seconds from Dean Harrison and Kiaran Hankin.
Race 19 – Lightweights 2nd leg over six laps, which gave Chris Palmer a start to finish victory, his 89th race victory at Oliver’s Mount.
Phil Harvey took a well deserved second place with David Guiney third.
The final race of the day and the 2012 Cock o’the North Road Races, for Non Qualifiers was red flagged after an incident at Farm Bends
.