MOURNE OBSERVER CUP QUARRY ROAD CIRCUIT

Round 1 of the Mourne Observer Cup took place on the hilly Quarry road circuit. It was a great Wednesday evening in glorious sunshine. Banbridge CC have been very fortunate with the weather in all the club events so far this year. 20 riders signed on with 4 guest riders from VC Iveagh and 1 from Dromara CC, which was great to see. The hilly Corbet road was going to be tough on the legs with two short steep hills. This year there was an extra lap added in to help the whole thing along with more pain.

Three groups was decided on to split the riders with the quickest riders set off last. Frist group on the road where Brian Curran, Chris Burns and Charlie Glover (Junior) with a five minute gap till the next group. There was 9 riders in the next group with a mixture of BCC, VC Iveagh and Dromara CC its was going to be fun if this group to stay away from scratch. The scratch group was a further 4 minute back again but with the race over 5 laps it all should be coming together at the end.

With all three groups working well together things where beginning to settle down the more miles that was rattled up, It wasn’t until the start of the 4th lap till the first two groups came together to try and stay away from the scratch group. With Stevie Fitzsimmons driving it at the front on the last lap opening a gap to the rest of the riders but the group wasn’t letting him away. Next thing the lead car came up to the front group just into the two steep hills on the Corbet road. Half way up the last climb the groups where all together and now was going to be fun to see who could hang on in on the last lap. Turning left onto the Waringsford road the pressure was on. John Buller, Simon Curry and Dan Purdy taken turns at the front to drive it home the group where all strung out dropping one by one. The last mile was Simon’s to give it an attack but then sat up making things very tense but Simon had another go at it just before the last turn till the finish and there was no stopping him taken the win from Dan Purdy who came in 2nd and Johnny Mc Roberts in 3rd place.

The humid heat was starting to get to the riders after the 4th lap, 6 of the riders did not finish the race.

Thanks to all the timekeepers and Marshals and the lead car drivers for all there help making this a great safe evening racing. 

Results:

1st Simon Curry 1.24.40

2nd Dan Purdy

3rd Johnny McRoberts

4th Stevie Fitzsimmons

5th Josh Daly (V)

6th Ronan Kennedy

7th Neil McAllister

8th Dave Broome (V)

9th John Buller

10th Johnny Burns (V)

11th Ian Cochrane

12th Charlie Glover

13th Chris Burns

14th Nathan Sturrock

Club League standings (24/05)