Irish Short Circuit Motorcycle Racing 2012 by Derek Wilson

Irish Short Circuit Motorcycle Racing 2012 Photography By Derek Wilson.

Brian McCormack Adelaide Masters Superbike Winner.

Front Cover Denver Robb, 2012 Irish Superbike Champion

ÂŠ Copyright Derek Wilson 2012.

Irish Short Circuit Motorcycle Racing 2012 The short circuit scene the five round (12 race) Irish Superbike Championship kicked

off at Easter with five races at Bishopscourt and Kirkistown and Cameron Donald (Wilson Craig Honda) making his seasonal reappearance before his road racing campaign was sensational, winning all five superbike races and four of the five supersport races, the only blot on his copybook the opening supersport race of the season when he failed to make the warm-up area on time eliminating him from the race. However in the ISB championship chase Denver Robb was the man to catch after a solid Easter campaign in which he scored heavily with a second, three thirds and a fourth place position. Never out of the top four in the next six races Robb took a handsome lead into the final three races at Mondello Park, not his favourite circuit and clinched his first ISB title with a race to spare. David Haire finished in second position thirty-six points adrift while Donald’s Easter haul of points was enough to claim third in the series. Gavin Johnston easily won the concurrently ran Irish Superstock series taking five wins. Haire clinched the supersport crown by fifty points with a consistent season winning two races while Jonny Buckley will have rued missing the first three races due to a mechanical issue in practice; never off the podium in the next eight races winning four to finish second in the series. Donald with four wins at Easter, Carl Phillips and Brian McCormack with wins at the final round were the other winners in the series that saw Drew Jamison easily clinch the junior superstock title recording nine wins. The closest racing of the season came in the D&GW Racing sponsored 250GP class where although low in numbers all twelve races in the series saw up to five riders separated by tenths of seconds with Thomas Lawlor emerging as champion by a slender margin from Nigel Percy, who led going into the final round only to suffer a clutch problem and fail to start the first of the three races. Teenagers Andrew Irwin (18) and Conor Parkhill (16) were the dominant forces in the supertwin class finishing first and second in the championship, Irwin taking the title with consistency the key, as he finished every race winning five while Parkhill had five dnf ’s and two wins to his credit riding a KMR Kawasaki. Ryan Farquhar won the opening two races of the season at Bishopscourt while his team mate Jamie Hamilton scored a double at Kirkistown on Easter Monday. The only other winner was Michael Sweeney during the final round at Mondello Park. Nigel Percy made up for losing out on the 250GP championship by clinching the 125GP/Moto3 series taking nine wins in the twelve race series while Robert English won two races on his way to second in the championship.

Dylan Lynch cruised to the sidecar title where after a disappointing first two races he reeled off eleven wins in the next twelve races to secure the championship, while Shane Egan and Alvin Griffin were the superbike cup and supersport 400cc champions. What a disappointment that the prestigious Sunflower Trophy meeting fell by the wayside due to lack of entries and financial constraints. In its fifth year the Adelaide Masters series produced some tremendous racing in 2012 with Brian McCormack snatching his second Adelaide Masters superbike title by two points from Lee Johnston after some fantastic racing throughout the thirteen race series, which for the first time ventured away from Mondello Park travelling North to Bishopscourt for races seven and eight where one of the best ever Irish short circuit races was witnessed in the Adelaide Masters final for the Norman Brown Trophy, which the top five riders Marshal Neill, Johnston, McCormack, Cody Nally and David Haire crossed the finish line just over half a second separating the quintet after a sensational 12-lap encounter. McCormack doubled up by clinching the Adelaide supersport title beating Carl Phillips by seventeen points. In the superbike cup Evan Delaney and Melvin Hollingsworth tied on points after the thirteen races with Delaney claiming the title on count back while Luke Johnston clinched the supersport cup series. Johnston had a tremendous season, the 18-year old emerging victorious in the Irish clubmans supersport championship after some tremendous battles with Jason Lynn, Joseph Loughlin and Robert Kennedy over twenty races, in fact these four won all the races Johnston six, Lynn six, Loughlin six and Kennedy two to finish 1-2-3-4 in the series. Dave Butler totally dominated the inaugural stock twins championship winning fifteen of the twenty races, while Kia McGreevey and Kevin Keyes were equally as dominant on their way to winning the 125GP/Moto3 Newcomer and NDM 125Production champions McGreevey winning sixteen races and Keyes fourteen in their title victories. The first Irish Pre Injection title went to Steven Titterington while the classic titles went to R J Woolsey (250), James Conroy (350), Pete Simpson (500) and Eanie Horan (1000). A tremendous season despite the doom and gloom surrounding meetings that did not take place due to the current financial situation leaving riders with diminishing budgets to pursue what is after all an expensive hobby to the majority on the grid with the love of the sport far exceeding the winning and prize money expectations of the minority. With a few tweaks here and there we can look forward to another year of spectacular racing between the hedges and on the tracks in 2013.

Clubmans.

2012 Clubmans Championship Final Positions MOTO 3 (125 GP) Newcomers 70 Kia McGreevy. 55 Kyle Cross. 77 Paul McCartney.

Production 125/250 cc 5 Kevin Keys. 19 Aaron Clifford. 41 Reece Davidson.

Stock Twins 91 Dave Butler 6 Alistair Knipe. 21 Aaron Armstrong

Superbike 101 Shane Egan. 41 Melvin Hollingsworth. 80 Steven Bloomer

Supersport 42 Luke Johnston. 38 Jason Lynn. 19 Joseph Loughlin.

Pre Injection 8 Steven Titterington. 4 Andrew Brady. 29 Alan Graham

Junior Superstock 42 Luke Johnston. 27 Neil Glasgow. 118 James Chawke.

250cc Classic 1 RJ Woolsley. 27 Brian Allan. 4 Barry Davidson.

350cc Classic 3 James Conroy. 65 John Dixon. 24 George Stinson.

500cc Classic 37 Pete Simpson. 56 Alex Conroy. 75 David Hickie.

1000cc Classic 88 Eanie Horan. 1 RJ Woolsley. 39 Jonny Miller.

Supersport 600.

Luke Johnston Clubmans Supersport Winner. Clubmans Junior Superstock Winner.

Robert Kennedy, Jason Lynn .

Jason Lynn Clubmans Supersport 2nd.

Jonny Harvey.

James Kelly.

Niell Glasgow.

Joseph Loughlin.

Pre Injection.

Above:- Steven Titterington, Winner Pre Injection Championship. Top Right:- Andrew Brady 2nd. Bottom Right:- Alan Graham 3rd.

Stock Twins. Top:- Dave Butler Winner Stock Twins Championship. Bottom Right:- Alistair Knipe 2nd. Bottom Left:- Aaron Armstrong 3rd.

125

Top:- Kevin Keys,

Winner Production 125 Championship. Bottom:- Kia McGreevy, Winner Moto 3 (125 gp) Championship

Superbike Cup

Top:- Shane Egan Winner Superbike Cup, Bottom Right:- Melvin Hollingsworth 2nd, Bottom Left:-Steven Bloomer 3rd.

Classics.

Top Left: James Conroy 350cc class winner. Top Right: Eanie Horan 1000cc Class Winner. Bottom: RJ Woolsley 250cc Class Winner.

Irish Superbikes

Irish Superbike

Irish Superbikes. 20 Denver Robb. 4 David Haire. 86 Cameron Donald.

Supersport. 4 David Haire. 222 Jonny Buckley. 32 Carl Phillips.

Moto 3 (125) 4 Nigel Percy. 67 Robert English. 27 Adam McLean.

250 73 Thomas Lawler. 3 Nigel Percy. 8 Richard Glasgow.

Moto 450 171 Dave Walsh. 59 Stephen Davidson.

ISB Superbike Cup 101 Shane Egan. 41 Melvin Hollingsworth. 80 Steven Bloomer.

Supertwins 8 Andrew Irwin. 12 Conor Parkhill. 91 Dave Butler.

Superstock 121 Gavin Johnston. 78 Kenny Robinson. 30 Stephen Thomson.

Junior Superstock 19 Drew Jamison. 42 Luke Johnston. 10 Jamie Patterson.

Supersport 400 119 Alvin Griffin. 87 Jason Floody. 135 Tom Gregory.

Denver Robb Irish Superbike Champion 2012.

David Haire Irish Superbike Championship 2nd place.

Cameron Donald ISB 3rd place. 9 wins from 9 starts during the Easter weekend.

Mathew Percy.

Nico Mawhinney.

Gavin Johnston.

William Dunlop.

Cody Nally.

Supersport 600.

David Haire Winner Supersport 600 Championship.

Jonny Buckley Runner Up Supersport 600 Championship.

Carl Phillips 3rd Supersport 600 Championship.

Gareth Keys. 25

William Dunlop.

Drew Jamison.

125â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Moto 450

Dave Walsh.

Nigel Percy 26

Robert English.

Adam McLean.

250â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Nigel Percy Richard Glasgow.

Supertwins.

Michael Sweeney, Andrew Irwin.

Andrew Irwin, Winner Supertwins Championship.

Dave Butler.

Lee Wilson.

Lee Hill.

Team KMR.

Ryan Farquhar.

Jamie Hamilton. Conor Parkhill.

Adelaide Masters.

Adelaide Masters Superbike Adelaide Masters Superbike Cup 111 Brian McCormack. 32 Evan Delaney. 33 Lee Johnston. 41 Melvin Hollingsworth. 48 Damien Byrne. 333 Brian Coomey.

Adelaide Masters Supersport 111 Brian McCormack. 32 Carl Phillips. 222 Jonny Buckley.

Adelaide Masters Supersport Cup 42 Luke Johnston. 73 James Kelly. 38 Jason Lynn.

Adelaide Masters 250cc 41 Ronan Shanahan. 46 Johnathan Murphy. 173 John Ella.

Adelaide Masters 125cc 21 Karen Hadden. 27 Adam Maclean 19 Mathew Hazlett.

Adelaide Masters Supertwins 12 Conor Parkhill. 9 Dave Butler. 65 Miko Sweeney.

Adelaide Masters Pre Injection 68 Declan Swanton. 22 Paraic Dooley. 3 Colm Kearney.

Brian McCormack Winner Adelaide Masters Superbike Championship.

Lee Johnston Adelaide Masters Superbike Runner Up

P J Jacobsen.

Above: Damien Byrne. Top Right BJ Toal. Bottom Right: Marshall Neill.

Brian McCormack Winner Adelaide Masters Supersport 600 Championship.

Carl Phillips Adelaide Masters Supersport 600 Runner Up.

William Dunlop.

Gareth Keys.

Karen Hadden Adelaide Masters 125 Championship Winner.

Robert English.

Adam McLean.

. Padraig Graham . Korie McGreevy

Ronan Shanohan Adelaide Masters 250 Championship Winner.

Richard Glasgow.

Nico Mawhinney.

Nigel Percy.

Conor Parkhill Adelaide Masters Supertwins winner leads Dave Butler runner up.

Nigel Percy