By Senior Support:
Further enhancing his lead at the top of the Irish Road Race Junior Support Championship standings, Vinny Brennan absolutely dominated the seven lap Junior Support race at Armoy, finishing victorious by plus 22 seconds.
Behind runaway race victor Brennan, the keenly contested battle for second was won by Dominic Cottrell, who finished only 0.015 of a second in front of NJT Racing supported Ryan Fenton.
Rounding out the top six finishers behind roads newcomer Fenton, Cottrell and dominant class winner Brennan were Noel Smith, Dan Ingham and Germany’s Chris Meyer.
125/Moto 3/Supersport 300:
Making it four national road race victories from four race starts on the Faraldo Racing Honda, Derek McGee was in peerless form on route to powering to Molly’s Bar & Restaurant 125/Moto 3 race success.
At one point over 20 seconds clear of the chasing pack, McGee’s eventual race winning margin stood at just over 19.5 seconds.
Finishing runner up to dominant pace setter, new Armoy 125/Moto 3 lap record holder McGee, was Gary Dunlop who despite starting from the second wave, due to problems in qualifying, on aggregate timing lead the challenge to his former Joey’s Bar MCC Racing employee.
Photo by Tommy Vennard
Second on the road across the finish line, Enniskillen’s Melissa Kennedy completed the podium finishers in front of fellow respected class exponent Nigel Moore.
Germany’s Chris Meyer placed fifth, Wayne Kennedy secured sixth whilst overall all class competitors completed the seven lap 125/Moto 3 race.
Supersport 300 wise, the small entry for the fledgling class was headed by yesteryear racing specialist Barry Davidson, who claimed a very respectable overall 12th place finish.
Junior Classics:
Barry Davidson just had enough potent race craft, pace, that something extra to claim overall Junior Classic, Junior 350 Classic race honours.
Involved in a race long duel for victory with Ed Manly, Davidson’s final race winning margin over Manly stood at just past the half second mark.
George Stinson completed the top three finishers, whilst the race for Junior 250 Classic class spoils was won by Brian Mateer, who finished overall in fifth place.
Lightweight:
Originally red flagged following an incident involving two riders at the Turnarobert section of the Armoy course, the re-started six lap Lightweight race saw Logan Racing’s Neil Kernohan reign supreme.
Synonymous for his ability on two stroke 250 steeds, the affable Kernohan proved too strong for his respective Lightweight class exponents, taking the race honours by well in excess of the seven seconds mark.
Lead 400 runner Kris Duncan held off David Howard for second, with just 0.637 covering Scotsman Duncan and last week’s Faugheen 50 Lightweight race conqueror.
The six remaining finishers from this afternoon’s re-started Lightweight encounter were Stephen McKeown, Paul ‘Potchy’ Williams, high level Manx GP competitor Dan Ingham, Dave Walsh, Brian Loughlin and Darren Duncan.
Super Twins:
What looked like a Super Twins race going to the form book, with KMR Kawasaki’s Derek McGee enjoying by lap five a seven plus second lead, soon turned to drama a plenty on lap six.
McGee on course for a fourth victory of this year’s Armoy meeting, encountered technical problems, forcing him out of contention.
This allowed Skerries Andy Farrell to slot into the race lead, which he maintained to the chequered flag.
Farrell took the twin class spoils by 7.726 seconds over Lightweight race winner Neil Kernohan.
Stephen McKnight concluded the rostrum finishers, whilst others to enjoy strong rides included Junior Support, Senior Support class front runners Vinny Brennan, Tommy Henry, who respectively finished fourth and fifth.
Senior Classics:
The seven lap Senior Classics race, title sponsored by Armoy Clerk of The Course Bill Kennedy, would see Davies Motorsport’s Dominic Herbertson join the Armoy race winners circle.
Winner of both Super Twin races at the Southern 100, the ever cheerful, quick witted Herbertson was in imperious form on way to securing Senior 1000, overall Senior Classics victory.
Ultimately victorious by just over seven seconds, the challenge to reigning Junior Classic TT champion Herbertson was led by impressive Armoy debutant Mark Purslow, who’s set to return next month to Manx GP affiliated competition.
Richard Ford rounded out the Senior 1000, overall race top three finishers, whilst leader of the Senior 500 Classics fraternity was the yesteryear racing great that is Barry Davidson.
Joining Davidson on the Senior 500 Classics podium were John Leigh Pemberton and Freddie Stewart.
Senior Support:
Ryan Fenton dramatically claimed Senior Support race victory at Armoy, after a quite brilliant ride on the NJT Racing Yamaha.
A newcomer this weekend not only to Armoy, but pure road racing in general, Fenton throughout the seven lap Support class encounter trailed MAC Racing’s Andy McAllister.
It seemed as though McAllister had the race win banked, as attentions to the seventh and final lap, only for Fenton to rapidly reel him in, and ultimately clinch race victory by 0.149 of a second.
Photo by Rod Neill
Such was Fenton’s pace on lap seven, that he lapped over two seconds quicker than long time race pace setter McAllister.
Concluding the podium finishers behind Fenton, McAllister, was O’Kane Motors supported Tommy Henry.
Results per class from this morning, this afternoon’s race action at Armoy, is as follows:
Senior Support:
1 Vinny Brennan
2 Dominic Cottrell
3 Ryan Fenton
4 Noel Smith
5 Dan Ingham
6 Chris Meyer
7 Sam Grief
8 John Cahill
9 Mark Johnson
10 Shaun Wynne
11 Dave Walsh
12 Bryan Harding
13 James Rothery
14 Davy Graham
15 Adrian Heraty
125/Moto 3/Supersport 300:
1 Derek McGee
2 Gary Dunlop
3 Melissa Kennedy
4 Nigel Moore
5 Chris Meyer
6 Wayne Kennedy
7 Sam Grief
8 Sean Leonard
9 Paul Gartland
10 Malcolm Love
11 Peter McKillop
12 Barry Davidson
13 Raymond Hodges
14 Linton Irwin
15 Steven Smith
16 Peter Shannon
Junior 350 Classics:
1 Barry Davidson
2 Ed Manly
3 George Stinson
4 Ian Thompson
5 Sean Leonard
6 Mick Brady
7 Mark Purslow
8 Freddie Stewart
9 Andy Kildea
10 Jonathan Doran
11 Linton Irwin
12 Billy Lyle
13 Ken Parkes
14 Paul McMahon
Junior 250 Classics:
1 Brian Mateer
2 Richard Ford
3 Kyle Parkes
4 Gary Hutton
5 Davy Crawford
6 Shaun Wynne
Lightweight:
1 Neil Kernohan
2 Kris Duncan
3 David Howard
4 Stephen McKeown
5 Paul Williams
6 Dan Ingham
7 Dave Walsh
8 Brian Loughlin
9 Darren Duncan
Super Twins:
1 Andy Farrell
2 Neil Kernohan
3 Stephen McKnight
4 Vinny Brennan
5 Tommy Henry
6 Michael Sweeney
7 Nigel Colgan
8 Mark Johnson
9 James Rothery
Senior 1000 Classics:
1 Dominic Herbertson
2 Mark Purslow
3 Richard Ford
4 Ben Rea
5 Ian Thompson
6 Philip Shaw
Senior 500 Classics:
1 Barry Davidson
2 John Leigh Pemberton
3 Freddie Stewart
4 Billy Lyle
5 Andy Kildea
Senior Support:
1 Ryan Fenton
2 Andy McAllister
3 Tommy Henry
4 Dermot Cleary
5 Dan Ingham
6 Darryl Anderson
7 Chris Cook
8 Mike Swanson
9 Stuart McCann
10 Wayne Pither
11 Ben Plant
12 Adrian Heraty
13 Shaun Wynne
14 John Cahill
15 Noel Smith
16 Gary Jordan
17 David Robinson
18 Steven Smith
Words by Stevie Rial
