2007 Dundalk Report
Hi to you all again. Well that’s the Dundalk road races over and its hard to believe that we are drawing close to the end of the road racing season yet again, what a terrible day we had for racing ! with the continuous rain it made certain parts of the circuit pretty slippery, Thankfully, there were very few incidents and the day went like clockwork.
As regards the organising club itself, Can I just say, From the moment we arrived at the paddock gate, throughout the weekend, and up to the time we were packing up to go home ,They could not have done enough for us, Nothing was a problem, Not that we needed anything, But they treated us with respect!, There was none of this shouting at competitors or mechanics, like what we have had to put up with in some of the Paddocks back home!!, when Just before we were leaving, they came and thanked us for coming down and supporting them! So to everyone in the organizing Club, on behalf of the Team, I just want to say a Big Thank You, Its just a pity it rained on the day.
Looking back, practice went of fairly well for us, but I was running down in 6th on the 250, 8th on the 600 and 9th on the big bike, now that’s not where I wanted to be but I should have tried that we bit harder, I was fairly confident that come Sunday ,I reckoned if I could get good starts, that I wouldn’t be too far from the front runners
The last road end nearly caught me out during the 600 in practice, just as I was peeling into the corner, Adrian McFarland went a little wide himself and left me with no where to go but into the bales! not his fault may I add, mind you I was lucky not to have slid up the road on my ass.!
Sunday morning and it was lovely to wake up to the rain (not)!! but if that’s the way it was to be, all we could do, would be to make the best of it, we had the usual visitors dropping past to see how things are progressing in the Burrows camp, one man I always see on race morning is the JMF boss man ;Jimmy Murray, he always seems to have a stroll round the paddock and shout in before that Conner boy’s lifts all the prize money!!! Seriously, Conner is on a roll, and hes a good young lad, and deserves the success.
The 250 race was our first race of the day, but I only lasted a lap before I had to retire with the wrong tyre choice, Barry Davidson and Davy Morgan were both in the same boat as they were on slicks,I think Barry thought he was still in Spain, as he and Clare had just recently taken themselves of for a few days in the sun !
To be honest, the rest of my races were nothing to write home about, with finishes in around 8th in each of them,I have to admit, I was doing my best to try and get a finish ahead of William Dunlop in the senior class, as we are pretty close on points in the championship, unfortunately for William he had to retire on the first lap after bumping into Connor at the first corner ,resulting with a broken clutch lever, although I would liked to have finished higher, I was happy enough with my result, considering the slippery conditions, and with Killalane this weekend, I admit I am looking forward to this meeting, as it is one of my favourite circuits.
To many, it may not seem to important, but having started the season with my shoulder injury , resulting in missing a few races, its would be nice to salvage something out of it , and for me, that would be a top three finish in the Senior road race championship! but if it doesn’t happen , It aint the end of the world.
This must be the first weekend in a long time that all the lads have been well behaved!, maybe it was the fact that Raymond is away on holiday and Stephen couldn’t stay on Saturday night as he had other commitments ! But thanks to him for driving us up and down from home each morning, Bisto (Robert Burrows) was looking after us well all weekend ,doing the cooking, he would make a great house wife..!!!
I am gutted that I have nothing to report on Simon this weekend! Rather strange that is, but we all know that wont last long! believe me ,he is always up to no good where females are concerned!!
What about our superstar ? Mark “Sparky” Young ,he had another great ride on the 250 by taking 2nd place certainly good in those conditions, he was only beaten by Ivan Linton ,who has been doing all the winning this year. It’s a good job Mark has been keeping the HM name on the podium as my podium appearances have been rather sparse this year.
Our roving reporter and photographer gave us all a shock this weekend, in one of his rare road race appearances, Our Baylon actually stayed out the full distance in the wet conditions!, and Two races at that!!, just glad I hadn’t a bet on, cos I know I would have lost it, as he really hates the wet! (I wonder is he trying to get his licence ready for the manx next year??)
There are strong rumours that the boss man himself, Hugh Murphy may make an appearance at Killalane this weekend, that’s if I can get him talked out of building them motorhomes for a couple of days!
I was speaking to a few people close to Shane Conner and I understand that he is making some progress ,so lets hope and pray for the lad ,that he will be out and about soon..
If you are at Killalane this weekend, don’t be shy, call in for a chat, that’s what we are here for !, Till next weekend
JB#16
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