Dundalk Road Races August 2004
I’m not used to all this flying to race meetings, but we didn’t really have any choice. so Neil and me used the prize money I won from the UGP 400 race, to get flights to Belfast where we met Billy and drove down to Dundalk, with the bikes in Billy’s truck
The circuit is actually called Darver and is outside of Dundalk (right beside THE PUB !)
I wasn’t allowed to race in the support race (which was the 400 race) because of my status with an International race licence. So on the 400 I was out with the production 1000cc bikes and the GP 250’s, but at least it got me some track time, which I needed to learn the circuit.
The 600 race was a big one, there were all the big names from Irish Road Racing and me !? there were two races I had entered on the 600.; the supersport 600 and the Open race. The open race consisted of nearly all 1,000cc bikes, 2 600’s and a GP 250, Which William Dunlop was riding.
Practice went very well, I soon found out why people talk about the circuit as a moto-cross track; it has some very rough surfaces and a couple of mega jumps on it!
The circuit is pretty tricky as the road is very uneven at the edges and very narrow, so you can’t use all the road in corners. And there is No runoff at most of the corners.
Its not a long though (3.2miles), so its possible to learn the basics of it quite quickly.
In the evening, we looked at my times and it seemed (even although I could not race with the 400’s), I had the fastest time in practice. “Nice one” I thought.
On race day it began with bright sunshine and there were only a couple of showers, one of which (the heaviest) was just as my first 600 race was on the grid.
The First race on the 400 went very well, although I found that as I was going faster, the bike was suffering from lack of setup time on suspension. It was really flexing going through the flat out rough section after the first straight, giving a lot of headshake, it was a bit harsh at times.
Over the jumps a couple of times it landed and weaved heavily, but managed to regain itself before the corner.
It was great fun, although hard work due to the weaving, and I was getting some monster wheelies over parts I didn’t expect it to.
The first 600 race was as I mentioned plagued by a heavy shower which soaked the whole circuit. So we waited for 10 minutes on the start grid for the rain to stop and the road to….er …drain a little.
The race was quite an affair, with me on dry Bridgestones, which were a little worn, but the main thing was I stayed on and finished 10th. A good achievement considering I had a std bike against tuned 600’s, with wets and intermediate tyres on.
The second race was the open race and so I was also against the 1000cc bikes. I had a really good dice with a GSXR 600, but his power advantage meant that when I passed him on the twisties, he could just get back past me on the straight. Never mind It was a great race and showed me what the smaller (narrower) road circuits are like in Ireland.
Great fun !!!!
Thanks to all the sponsors and everyone who supports the team.