Killalane Road Races September 2004

John McLaughlin asked me back to Ireland to race both the 400 and 600 in the last Road race at killalane near Dublin (just beside The Skerries).

The weather was fine when we arrived, so we hoped we wouldn’t have to use the wet tyres we brought across in the plane…..we did though !

Unfortunately I couldn’t even get a few sighting laps, before the roads were closed, so I was going to have to use the newcomers practice to learn the circuit.

By the time the roads were closed a light rain had begun to fall and as it got closer to practice, the rain became more persistent and the visibility decreased. The first group of newcomers went out and they were shaking their heads when they came back. When I went out the conditions were horrible; the road was quite dirty and the rain heavy, with poor visibility, we got 5 laps however and it showed me in which direction the corners went.

The first full practice session was abandoned after 2 laps because the visibility had become so poor and as time wore on the conditions worsened so practice was cancelled.
This meant that only the people who hadn’t been out would get practice on race day.

So with 5 laps practice in terrible conditions I went out on the 600 for my first race.
I was in the second wave right at the back (the bikes are sent off in groups, with 15 seconds pause because the road is so narrow and it is safer than a mass start).

I got a good start and made up a row by the first kink. I just got past a guy with about 2 inches to spare before the apex of the first corner and caught another couple on brakes into the first road end 90 degree corner.
After this I seemed to pass people regularly and the narrow back part of the circuit was a good place for me to get past people.

by the second out of 5 I was catching the first wave and thought that this was good, as I had made up good time. I was still riding carefully as I did not know the circuit….little did I know that I was actually in the lead on corrected time!
As I came round to the last corner before start finish, I was trying to ride carefully, but I hit a few stones in the road and lost the front end. down I went and slid across the road coming to rest beside the Recticel barrier.

I fell heavily on my shoulder and scratched my helmet, but I think it was more my pride that was hurt, as I wasn’t pushing it at all, especially as the rain was falling round the back of the circuit. That’s just the way it goes sometimes !
The bike was a bit scuffed on one side but apart from a broken lever and fairing protector, it was not bad.

I took it back to the paddock where I got cleaned up ready for the 400 race.

We were out with the 250GP bikes so I could never really expect to do well against them.
From the very back row of the third group, I got a good start again and started to make good headway, even by the first left kink. I passed about three bikes here.
I had a great race, passing people at every opportunity and I must have got past 12 in the 5 lap race. I even overtook a couple of guys on the tricky back section on one lap.
It was a brilliant race and made up for my dissapointment at falling in the 600 race. I had no idea where I finished the race and had to go down to the timing box to get the results sheet to find out that I had actually finished 5th !
In front of me were three GP250 bikes and one 400.
I was very happy with this result, as I had only been round the circuit 3 times in the dry, where I could see!

Apart from the pain in my shoulder, it was a great feeling to be able to come across and do well, despite crashing in the first race, my times were very good and this meant that I can certainly dice it with the best in this class.

A good finish to a very trying weekend, where we had the wet tyres on and off more times than I can imagine.

Thanks to Neil, and Graham Adkins (Mercury Exhausts) for coming across to help, I could not have done it without their hard work.

Thanks to Billy McKinstry for the work on the bikes, the great steaks and the run down to the airport.

Thanks once again, to all the sponsors and everyone who supports the team.