Athea Report 2009

Photos by Baylon McCaughey www.irishracephotography.com

 Hi again everyone, Another weekend, and another road race marked of the calendar for 09, I said in my last report  that the weather was supposed to be good for Athea, sorry I got it wrong this time as Sunday was another day like the Bush road races, wheels out and  wheels in every five minutes ! then  when you eventually made the choice, the track conditions changed again, we were in a no win situation, but no doubt everyone was in the same boat.

Baylons “irishracephotography.com” SV Suzuki

Well down to the racing, I was out on my old mate Baylon’s  SV 650 in the Super Twins class and got a second place , It was great to get a podium finish, not only for myself, but also for Baylon, so Thanks again Baylor, Much Appreciated.

It was quite treacherous under the trees at Athea

The superbike worked well in the dry conditions ,but she was a bit of a handful in the wet, getting out of slow corners with the rear end wanting to spin up made things a bit more difficult, but I am sure all the other boys had similar problems, in the end we ended up with two fourth places which was grand. In the 600 race we were using full wets, and I think I made the correct choice of tyres for this race, we ended up fourth behind Ryan, Michael and Keith, so, certainly happy with that.

With Athea out of the way for 09 ,we now move onto Skerries which is a bit closer to home, even though it’s still a couple of hours away it beats the five hour drive to Athea.

Open Race

Skerries is probably my weakest circuit on the calendar of road races but in the past i have achieved some reasonable results there ,so I will certainly give it our best shot and hopefully not be too far away at the flag.

I will also be back out on Gerry O’Sullivans wee 350 Honda again this weekend ,so I am looking forward to that and hopefully give Gerry a good result at his home race. Thanks to Gerry  I will have a second outing in the Classics at Skerries!, cant say too much just yet, but all being well, i will have a  second machine at Skerries.

Chasing Keith and Michael in the 600 race

Before I go I see the start numbers are out for the Manx, I am starting 16 in  both the Junior and Senior Classic races, so hopefully we can make up a few places on the road from there. Another couple of weeks in the Isle of Man ! I might as well  be a  Manx resident ….!!

Dont forget, if you are in the paddock this weekend, feel free to call over for a chat.

John Burrows#16