Club League Rnd 11 – Magowan takes Magowan Cup

by Rich · June 12, 2015

It was an unbelievable few days with this strange fire burning ball of light in the sky that seemed to appear when the grey clouds disappeared. They seem to be calling it the sun which i hope will stay with us a bit longer.

This weeks Road Race was around the traditional Tommy Givan race circuit at Hillsborough. We have been busy over the last while with many events so it was a great pat on the back to the club that so many people stepped forward to marshal. Without you there would be no race.

Lisa M was head marshal for the night and did a sterling job to coordinate the marshals to the correct corners and make sure all the signage was up. Lisa, Emma with assistance from Roisin and Trevor W were the timekeepers for the night and for those that havent done this job I recommend giving it ago so you can appreciate how difficult it is. As for the other marshals:

Corner 1 (Hillsborough): Chris M, Beverley P, Marty McA,
Corner 2 (Annahilt): Graeme D, Paul G, Raymund M, Sean S, Trevor B,
Corner 3 (Legacurry): Graham McC, John W, Noel G, Gary G, Marcus.

Lead car: Andrew F

From what I could see they did an awesome job to try and keep us all safe.

This week numbers seemed a bit lower than usual with the Crilly just around the corner some racers were surely keeping there powder dry. From the last race scratch had a few new members but they decided to recruit from outside and managed to get the odd pro to join them. Group 1, 2 & 3 took off without issue but in Group 4 David D and Graham B decided that they wanted to practise their two up technique before rejoining the group. From what I hear the scratch group took off fairly quick and didnt take long to become a well oiled machine – Group 4 were struggling a bit to keep a consistent turn over but managed to catch group 3 at the start of the second lap. Alas since this is not a closed road Group 3/4 got stuck behind two cars leading to scratch catching at the crucial Legacurry corner. This reporter wont get into the details but with panic ensuing from scratch catching and general road race histeria people took some poor choices. This will be investigated by the road racing committee to make sure this situation doesnt arise again. On that note please use the forum or the web contact page to pass on your thoughts rather than the facebook group page.

With everyone caught the last lap was hectic and after Legacurry junction Richard C, Stephen I and Michael C managed to form a small breakway that alas ran out of steam on the very last climb on the road. That left the rest to sprint it out with Gavin M taking the victory just ahead of Ronnie S and John Heverin.

As for the unsung riders who are in Group 1 & 2 it was Aaron Watson who produced an awesome ride to hang on the group and finish only a few minutes down – getting faster and closer every race.