Derek Shiels and Michael Sweeney locked in a duel at the 2019 Kells Road Races
2019 Kells Road Races Results : The Kells Road Races thankfully returned to the Irish National Road Race Calendar for the first time since 2016. Here are all the results :
The traditional end to the TT Festival takes us back down to the south of the Isle of Man to the Billown Course for some multi-start road racing.
Thankfully the weather held out long enough to get through the Practice Sessions and line up another great evening of racing.
It is no secret I am a big fan of the Pre and Post TT Races, honestly – factor them into your trip to the TT – it is a great course, with great racing. It’s a great way to relax and wind down after the hectic pace of the TT – although the bikes still keep the pace up!
The ColasPost TT Road Races have been described as a fitting conclusion to the TT Festival and is not to be missed, especially with the inclusion of 600cc Supersport, 650cc SuperTwins and Superbike races ensure that event attracts the crème de la crème of the racing fraternity from the British Isles, Europe and further afield.
Practice & Qualifying takes place between 1.00pm and 4.00pm, with racing action between 5.00pm and 8.30pm at the latest.
After an epic 5 races yesterday the Clerk of the Course made another well informed decision to start things off early. With a ‘Yellow Warning’ for rain over the Isle of Man in force for the afternoon of 7th June 2019 a call was made to start things off early. The plan was put in place for a 10:00am start with the intention of running a full six lap Senior TT.
With the mandatory delay – only a wee one though – things got underway at 10:15am.
For the duration of the race I was live tweeting – if you fancy reading through things as they unfolded just look for the Hashtag #2019SeniorTTLIVE
Conor Cummins Sets things off for the 2019 Senior TT (Pic : iom_tt : Twitter)
With – you guessed it – the weather continuing to play havoc with every plan the Clerk of the Course could lay out it really did come down to one last roll of the dice and that was Thursday 6th June 2019. The forecast was looking positive and as long as the roads would dry out over night then there was the potential for a full day of racing and a couple of necessary qualifying sessions.
The plan had to be ambitious, but I think it would be fair to say that everyone was shocked when Gary Thompson came up with this idea :
TT2019 Schedule : Thursday 6th June 2019
Yes, you have read that correctly – 5 Races, 1 Day. Now that is a day of racing!
A few days late but 3rd June 2019 finally brought racing to the 2019 TT Races. A jammed schedule was planned as a result of the weather that has hampered this years event, but it really did line up well. A racing fan’s dream of a full day’s double session of racing.
After a couple of delays – one off track medical emergency then an uncooperative ‘fan’ things got underway.
Due to time constraints the originally planned 6 lap race was shorted to 4 laps.
Conor Cummins started things of followed by Dean Harrison. Harrison was in the lead by Glen Helen and had caught up with Cummins by the Mountain Road. Deano lapped at 132.47mph – the fastest lap of 2019.
Peter Hickman was on form too and was quickly second on adjusted time, and things were looking like it was going to be another epic duel between Hicky and Harrison. Deano was flying and by Ballagh Bridge on lap 2 Harrison was 4.841s ahead of Hicky. This all changed on the Mountain Road and the route down to pits and by the time of the planned pit stop Hicky was 1.782 seconds ahead. A lead which he held onto.
On the same stretch of the road Conor Cummins took the lead on the road again from Harrison which he later explained was some sort of power / throttle issue with his bike.
Unfortunately on lap 2 of this superbike race the red flag was brought out with the tragic death of rider Daley Mathison.
The race to this point was declared a result with Peter Hickman taking the win, Dean Harrison was second and Conor Cummins third.
John McGuiness on his Norton retired at the end of lap 1 citing low oil pressure as the problem. Irish rider Derek McGee also retired at the end of lap one.
The bike riden by Hicky was a hybrid – mostly Superstock, with a few superbike add-ons. The system clearly worked!
Daley was an experienced competitor and was seeded 19th for today’s race. He made his Mountain Course debut in the 2013 Manx Grand Prix Newcomers A Race, finishing fifth. His TT career included three consecutive podiums in the TT Zero electric bike Race in 2016, 2017 and 2018 including the runner up position in the race last year, representing Nottingham University.
ACU Events Ltd regrets to confirm that Daley Mathison, 27, from Stockton on Tees, Durham was killed in an incident during the Superbike Race today at the Isle of Man TT Races. The accident occurred at Snugborough, just over 2 miles into the Course, on the 3rd lap of the race.
He also achieved an 11th place finish in last year’s Superstock Race and a pair of 13th place finishes in the 2017 and 2018 Senior TT Races.
He set his fastest lap of the Mountain Course – 128.054mph – in the 2018 Superstock race which made him the 34th fastest rider of all time. He set the second fastest TT Zero lap ever with lap of 119.294mph in the 2018 race.
In total he started 19 TT Races with 14 finishes and 3 podiums and won 6 silver and 8 bronze replicas
ACU Events Ltd wishes to pass on their deepest sympathy to Daley’s wife Natalie, his family and friends.
Daley’s wife Natalie posted the following message on Daley’s twitter feed :
Not something I ever wanted to write but here we go…..
Daley, as Daisy says, is now sleeping with the fairies. That’s all I can bring myself to say right now. The last image I saw of my husband, was of a man so happy with life and so proud of his racing. xxxxxx pic.twitter.com/wWCaDJwUht
