76

SIXTEEN seemsto be Michael

Laverty’s lucky num-ber because he’s fin-

ished 16th in four of thefive MotoGPs so far this

year. Going in to round six atthe Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at

Mugello the PBM rider was hoping togo one place better and score his first points of the

season but yet again he was left one place short.Toomebridge rider Laverty aboard the Rapid Solicitors

and Silkolene-backed Aprilia ART-powered PBM made agood start and by lap eight, he was up to 16th and onthe verge of scoring points despite it being his debut atthe track. As the battles raged throughout the field,Laverty continued to lap consistently but couldn’t bridgethe gap between Colin Edwards who claimed 15th place.

Laverty’s result means it’s the fifth time in six races thathe has finished in 16th place and has yet to register on

the scoreboard. But importantly the PBM team occupyseventh place in the manufacturer’s table and 13th

in the team’s standings.Laverty said after the race: “Well you can’tknock our consistency! 16th place and the

team gave me an improved bike thisweekend with some updates and I

feel we have done a goodjob with the set-up.”

MICHAEL Dunlop took hisninth TT victory when he wonSaturday’s Superbike race,and he then stormed to vic-tory in Tuesday night’s Super-stock race.The BMW Motorrad rider tookcontrol from early race leaderJames Hillier at Ballaugh on the

opening lap and aided by two lapsinside the old outright lap record, hesurged clear and was able to controlthe race in the closing stages to takethe win by 20.5s from Guy Martin onhis Tyco Suzuki with Conor Cumminson his Honda Racing in third.There was also sensational news on thefinal lap when Bruce Anstey, outside the topten on the opening lap after overshooting theNook, tore round the Mountain Course on theValvoline Racing/Padgetts Honda to becomethe first man ever to lap at more than132mph with a final lap of 132.298mph.Hillier was quickest to Glen Helen on theopening lap on his Quattro Plant/Muc-OffKawasaki and he led Dunlop by one secondwith Martin, a rapid starting Dean Harrison(RC Express Racing Kawasaki), Gary Johnson(Lincs Lifting Honda) and Dan Kneen (Cooks-town BE Racing Suzuki) close behind.

HammeredDunlop’s eighth TT victory was also BMW’sfirst ‘big bike’ win since German GeorgMeier won the 1939 Senior. Martin took his14th podium in second with Cummins threeseconds further back after doing his all onthe final lap. Anstey hammered home infourth Rutter ensured it was a good day forBMW with a strong fifth and Michael’sbrother William was sixth.In Monday’s Monster Energy SupersportRace 1 it was Gary Johnson who made themost of a gap in the weather to score aclose-won victory.After four full-on laps the margin betweenJohnson and second placed Bruce Anstey wasjust over 1.5 seconds with Michael Dunlopclaiming anpther podium but this time hav-ing to settle for third. Johnson’s victory wasthe first for Triumph since Bruce Ansteywon the 2003 Junior on a Valmoto pre-pared machine in 2003.Mar-Train Racing’s TT debut wasrewarded with a fine fourth place,recorded by Bradford’s Dean Harri-son in the Supersport Race 1 withthe N.Ireland based team were theonly Yamaha effort in the top ten.In Tuesday’s RL 360 Superstock

race it was the man from Bally-money again, Michael Dunlop, whotook his ninth TT victory when hecomfortably won giving BMW theirsecond win in four days.

Riding the MD Racing machine, Dunlopfaced a serious challenge from MonsterEnergy Supersport 1 race winner Gary John-son but the Lincolnshire man crashed on therun up to the Waterworks on the openinglap. From that point Dunlop was able tomaintain his lead over second placed Dean

Harrison and eventually came home20.1s clear of the RC Express Racing byMSS Performance rider with BruceAnstey taking third for Valvoline Racing/Padgetts Honda.Dunlop was quickest to Glen Helen onlap one but it was close as only 0.5scovered the top four riders with Harri-son, Johnson and James Hillier all intouch with the Ballymoney man.The day was marred by another roadrace death, Karl Harris, 34, from Shef-field was killed during the SuperstockRace following an incident at Joey’s onthe 2nd lap of the race.

ROGER Skeete returned to the topstep of the Sol Rally Barbadospodium for the first time since2011, claiming his 13th victory inthe 25-year history of the island’spremier event and extending hisremarkable record.Paul Bird’s hopes of becoming the onlydriver other than Skeete to claim a hat-trick of wins were thwarted towards theend of the opening day.Having set fastest times on the openingnine stages, he broke two wheels and hissuspension after clipping some cut rock.Bird explained: “I was carrying a littlemore speed through a corner when Idrifted the slightest bit wide. I washardly off line at all, but there was somecut rock on the exit, which I hit and itbroke two wheels and the suspension.

Gutted“The rally is the highlight of my yearso I’m naturally gutted, but we’ll be backto fight again next year.”Bird’s demise promoted Skeete to thelead, where he stayed until Sunday’s cli-max at Bushy Park Circuit, despite onlyclaiming two fastest stage times during

the 23-stage event. England’s Rob Swannupheld UK honours as he and navigatorDarren Garrod secured second overall intheir Impreza WRC, finishing just 35 sec-onds behind the winners. John Powelland Hugh Hutchinson completed the topthree ahead of Paul Bourne and StuartLoudon, with Roger Duckworth andMark Broomfield fifth.As for sixth placed Jeff Panton andMichael Fennell Jnr, it really was a caseof ‘what might have been’. They lost overtwo minutes on the opening stage of theevent when they went straight on at thefirst corner.And at the finish of the rally, theywere just over two minutes behind theevent winners. There was plenty of Irishinterest too, with Moy’s Frank Kellysecuring 11th overall on his first visit tothe island. Navigated by Robert Cadiz,they survived a big moment during thesecond day to finish second in classbehind local driver Andrew Jones, whohad England’s Lindsay Pilkington callingthe notes.Kelly explained: “It was a big buttclencher! We were too fast and went intoa big four-wheel drift. We just missed atelegraph pole — I thought it was allover.

When it goes into slowmotion usually it is!” Ban-bridge’s Mo Downey navigated Scotland’sAllan Mackay to class victory in theirAnglia. It was just reward after overcom-ing a huge amount of pre-event troubles.Their engine seized at the previousweekend’s King of the Hill event, forcingthe crew to ship out another engine fromthe UK. An injector was broken in tran-sit and it was only at the last gasp thatthey managed to get the car fixed intime.Brendan Brosnan and Sean Moriartyalso claimed second in their class withBrosnan’s Peugeot 205, while John Hard-man took his Nissan Micra to a classwin. Peter Gallagher, who decided tobring his Peugeot 306 to the islandsecured second in class.Unfortunately for Joe Gallagher andAnnette Daly, their rally went from badto worse. After their gearbox cried‘enough’ during the King of the Hill, Gal-lagher reported overheating issues withhis Mitsubishi’s engine once Sol RallyBarbados was underway.Shortly afterwards, the engine expired,putting him out of the event. Finally,Gary McElhinney’s hopes of a goodresult while navigating for Ray Brammerwere dashed as they too were forced tosuccumb with engine problems in theirImpreza WRC.

OFF-ROAD Motorcy-cle Racing will once

again return to Larne when Car-rickfergus & District Motorcycle Club

promotes its popular grasstrack events offthe Ballymullock Road, just a short distance

from the Millbrook area of the town. Youthcompetitors will take to the track on Tuesday

June 10 accompanied by a line-up of moreseasoned sidecar racers competing to take

home the prestigious Robert Blair MemorialTrophy. Focus turns to the adult section onWednesday with the Premier Solo & Quadracers plus Clubman & EVO classes. Specta-tor admission on Tuesday is free, Wednes-day £5.00 per adult, kids under 16 yearsfree accompanied by an adult, racing from6.30pm on both nights. see Carrickfergus-mcc.co.uk.

BALLYMENARaceway hosts

the final round ofthe National Hot Rod

World Qualifying Serieson Friday. The outcome of

the N.Ireland Championshipwill be decided and the

driver who emerges with mostpoints at the completion of the hotly contested 14 roundseries is crowned 2014 Champion. The winner alsoreceives a guaranteed prime starting spot within the frontgroup of the grid at the National Hot Rod World Champ-ionship in July at the Foxhall Raceway in Suffolk.

Current points leader Andrew Murray will start the show-down as hot favourite but if Murray falters however bothGlenn Bell and John Christie still retain an outsidechance of snatching the crown.

In total seven drivers go forward to represent NorthernIreland at the World Final, with Portadown pair Mark

Heatrick and Stewart Doak, Crumlin’s Adam Maxwelland 2005 World Champion Keith Martin from Dun-

gannon joining Murray, Bell and Christie as theprovince’s representatives. All will be aiming to

finish the qualifying campaign on a highnote this evening, where the first race

gets underway in the BallymenaShowgrounds at 7:15pm.

YOUR weekly round-up at everything motorsport featur-ing riders and racers competing here in Ireland orlocal riders competing in the UK and in worldwideevents.

We cover motorbike racing on tracks and the roads,rallying, all forms of motorsport, basically if it’s got anengine wheter it’s tow two-or four wheels then wewant to see it featured here in Sun Motors. Email meon darren.liggett@the-sun.co.uk

Armoy themerrier

LUCKY FOR SOME . . LocalLUCKY FOR SOME . . Localcompetitor Roger Skeetecompetitor Roger Skeete

wins Rally Barbados for thewins Rally Barbados for the13th time and inset, above,13th time and inset, above,celebrating after his victorycelebrating after his victory

BOY DUNGOOD . . .

MichaelDunlop

MayDayracecarmeeting@Kirkistown

PICTURESBY: BaylonMcCaughey

l DAN Kneen hopes hisstrong form at theIrish road races this

season will transfer intointernational success ashe aims for the podium atthe Metzeler Ulster GrandPrix on August 11-16.The 26-year old Isle ofMan rider has made a blis-tering start to 2014.He won the Cookstown100 superbike race andtook a superbike doubleat Tandragee, all whilestill adjusting to his newteam.Dan said: “The guys atCookstown BE Racinghave been great.“The bikes are goingreally well and we havehad some good resultsat the first few meetingsthis year.“The Dundrod track isnice, fast and flowing andwe hope it will be a goodone for us.“I’ve definitely got thebikes to get a decent

result.” Kneen’s com-ments came at the officialannouncement that theMS Society will be theUlster GP’s charitypartner for 2014.Tom Mallon, ActingHead of the MS SocietyNorthern Ireland said: “It’sa fantastic event and wehope that together we cansupport people with MSand raise awareness of thecondition,”See Ulstergrandprix.netor @UlsterGrandPrix onTwitter and find them onFacebook.

l THE off-road motorcycle section ofthe Mid Antrim Motor Club Ltd are

holding their Summer trial at Ballynultonear Broughshane on Saturday June 7.The trial starts at 11.30am and will havesections for all grades, seniors and youth.Pre 65, twin shocks and TY’s are all wel-come at this closed to club fun event.The trial is part of the MCUI – UC sum-mer series and is also the 2nd round ofthe Michelin Mid Antrim trials series.It is early days in the series but afterthe first round the series is lead byStephen Murphy while in second isStuart McClurg on 17 pts and StephenCromie also on 17 pts.

l THE Northern Ire-land Motor Club has

confirmed that Co Ferman-agh will again play host tothe 38th Ulster Rally onAugust 15-16.The awardwinning eventwill be based in andaround Enniskillen Townand Todds Leap has alsoconfirmed their support,with 2014 marking arecord breaking 7th yearasprincipal sponsor.The Enniskillen areahas enjoyed a prominentplace in the history of theUlster Rally, havinghosted the traditional Sat-urday morning breakfasthalt in Ballinamallard dur-ing the 1980s and 1990s.And after the success oflast year’s event, whichwon the Best BritishChampionship Event

Award for the 3rd time, theorganisers are delightedto be returning to the Fer-managh Lakelands.Once again the UlsterRally is expected to attracttop line entries from theMSA British champion-ship and Irish Tarmacchampionship as well asthe Mintex MSA HistoricChampionship and localMcGrady InsuranceChampionship.The event will be basedat St Angelo Airport wherea number of family attrac-tions will be interspersedwith the running of a Spec-tator Special Stage on theFriday and Saturday.The organisers aregrateful to the NorthernIreland Tourist Board andlocal sponsors for theirsupport.See Ulsterrally.com fordetails.

FORMULA FORD 16001) Noel Dunne 16m36.75s2) Niall Murray + 0.35s3) Jake Byrne4) Sean Doyle5) Adrian PollockRACE TWO1) Dunne 16m 41.44s2) Murray + 0.11s3) Morgan Dempsey4) Jake Byrne5) Sean DoyleFORMULA JUNIOR1) John Arnold 16m34.19s2) Patrick Barford +0.04s3) Martin Sheppard4) Bernard Brock5) Duncan RabagliatiRACE TWO1) Arnold 16m 21.39s2) Barford + 0.14s3) Sheppard4) Rabagliati5) Pearson FL Barford

FORD FIESTAS1) Andrew Blair 17m0858s2) Ian McCallister +1.55s3) Ryan Campbell4) Richard Livingston5) James HannaRACE TWO1) Blair 17m 15.02s2) Campbell +0.04s3) Ian McCallister4) James Hanna5) Richard LivingstonROADSPORTS1) Jim Larkham16m 49.93s2) Paul Conn3) John Benson4) Clive Heak5) Hal CatherwoodRACE TWO1) Jim Larkham 16m36.71s2) Pauil Conn +10.14s3) Hal Catherwood4) John Benson5) David Mutch

Derek’sWorldRXLyddenHill woesDEREK Tohill entered the secondround of the FIA World RallycrossChampionship at Lydden Hill infront of a sell-out crowd in his LDMotorsports 600 bhp powered Cit-roen DS3 SuperCar.The 2013 European Rallycross

Champion was part of the 38strong SuperCar field. This wasundoubtedly one of the largest &strongest Rallycross SuperCar fieldsfor many years.

The Dubliner considers the eventat Lydden Hill his home away fromhome and both Derek and theteam were hoping for a troublefree weekend.Unfortunately a turbo problem

slowed the LD Motorsports CitroenDS3 but Tohill still managed tohold on to a second place finish.With the problem fixed in time

for Heat 2 he got a fantastic startand he took his joker lap immed-

iately and took a convincing winensuring he posted 12th fastesttime overall. The Teng Tools sup-ported World RX driver went intoSunday confident but a puncture inHeat 1 and more turbo problemsin Heat 2 meant a semi-final placewas not on offer.Derek is currently placed 16th in

the World RX championship as itheads to 12 round on the calendarat the aptly named Hell in Norwayon June 14-15.

WITH just under twomonths to the ArmoyRoad Races plans areunderway and theArmoy MotorcycleRoad Racing Club isworking hard toensure a great andsafe event for all.Entries to date have

been good but asmembers of the Clubare still enjoying theIsle of Man TT Races,some of the road rac-ers have yet to con-firm their entry for theArmoy races on July25-26.William Munnis,

Chairman of the Club,said, “We’ve addedthe new VIP packageand corporate hospital-ity for those who wantto enjoy Armoy instyle and with safetyin mind and this yearwe plan to install a

separate speaker sys-tem in the paddock toensure unbroken com-munication with the rid-ers and staff in thatarea.”“We have increased

car parking facilitiesand have added anew grandstand onHillside Road whichwill provide safe andexcellent viewing forspectators.”Just a reminder that

the closing date isTuesday July 1 at mid-day. Entries can bedownloaded from ourwebsite at Amrrc.comFor more informationon the RiverRidgeRecycling’s ‘Race ofthe Legends’ searchfor ‘AMRRC’ on Face-book and join the offi-cial fan page. Followon Twitter at @Armoy-RoadRaces.

[WOMCAP]BATTLER...BATTLER...

Jack KennedyJack Kennedy

THE SUN, Thursday, June 5, 2014 1U