Thursday night brought us the first three races of the 2019 North West 200 – and what an amazing three races they were.
The weather was glorious, the clouds had broken and the sun was setting nicely out into the Atlantic Ocean, all of which set the scene for some epic road racing along our stunning Northern Irish North Coast.
Track temperatures were hovering close to 30 degrees celsius and the wind, although still blowing was nothing more than a gentle coastal breeze.
Perfect conditions for some Thursday night road racing and things all kicked off with the Supersport 600cc machines, followed by some big(ish) bike action of the superstockers and finishing things off with the supertwins.
I said earlier on today today to watch out in this class. I said earlier on today that Lee Johnston was definitely worth watching in this session and oh my word… Just look what happened!
Lee Johnston takes the win from Seeley who unfortunately after 6 laps of hardcore battle with General Lee Johnston fell at the last.
Importantly he was up and walked away from his off, and hopefully he is good for Saturday, but until the unfortunate incident of Alistair Seeley coming off the bike that was a true modern day motorcycling duel!
Really thrilling racing, which finished with a red flag following the spill from the Wee Wizard.
The final opportunity for the competitors to make the last tweaks and get themselves a qualifying time towards the front row.
Four sessions in this qualifying period lets all the classes get out for one final blast around the triangle, supertwins, superstocks, supersports and superbikes.
After an amazing sun kissed Tuesday session it is a lot more overcast today, however, importantly it is dry and nice and warm. At the start of this session track temperature was 20 degrees celsius and bit of a head wind was slowing things ever so slightly – everything is looking good and once again here is to a safe, enjoyable and fast session.
North West 200 : 16th May 2019 Qualifying / Practice Results :
Right at the start of the session was a little bit of drama for Jeremy McWilliams sliding off at Magherbouy Chicane. McWilliams has registered a qualifying time, but probably won’t have completed enough laps to qualify for the racing – so it will all come down to the Clerk of the Course to use their privilege in determining whether he will be allowed to take the grid.
Derek McGee has shown his excellent form again this morning getting himself to the top of today’s session, second overall. Looks like his form in the Nationals wants to transfer into the Internationals.
Glen Irwin also started with a what looks like a new fire in his belly. He sounded very down on Tuesday, but has started today with a bit of venom, just over 1/10 of second off Derek McGee’s top time for the day.
Jamie Coward finished third for the day but took the overall top spot.
The first International Road Race is here and it is the 90th Anniversary of Northern Ireland’s Largest Sporting Event – The 2019 International North West 200!
The weather is looking glorious for the week ahead and this morning into the afternoon brought us the first of two practice sessions.
Everything from the newcomers to the Superbikes was catered for and here is how things sit after the first qualifying session.
Times will quicken as the teams do a bit of chopping and changing, maybe a little tinkering and tweaking, but things will get quicker and with the sun shining here’s to a massive 90th Anniversary and to a safe and enjoyable event for all riders, teams, marshal, spectators, me and you!
North West 200 : 14th May 2019 Qualifying / Practice Results :
You’ll recognise these guys because for today and Thursday’s Practice Sessions they will be wearing orange bibs. Keep an eye on them them, stars of the future are in here!
Wall to wall sunshine and huge crowds brought the 2019 Tandragee 100 to life, and the amazing racing – all day – along with some superb organisation made it an event to remember!
As soon as racing started it flowed almost perfectly with only one slight delay to clean up a minor oil spill and one further unfortunate delay following a race incident in which Adam McLean was separated from his machine in what was a really hotly contested battle between himself and Derek McGee – Their fastest laps were only separated by a mere 0.122s!
2019 Tandragee 100 : Derek McGee on his way to 4 race wins
More importantly Adam is doing well and I would like to wish him a very speedy recovery and return the roads. The talent he had on display here this weekend was simply astounding!
Adam is in the Royal Hospital Belfast after an accident in the Supertwin race. He has arm, shoulder & pelvic injuries but is in really good spirits and making jokes in the hospital. So proud of the lad. 22 years old and pushing to win these races against way more experienced guys pic.twitter.com/xGE71OJKAY
It was another phenomenal day for Derek McGee, taking 4 race wins, Derek Shiels taking the ‘McCrum’s Motorcycles Aprilla Open Superbike Race‘ from him at the line in an amazing race nipping McGee to that victory by 0.4 seconds.
McGee got his own back though in the ‘Around A Pound Tandragee 100 Final‘ – with Shiels leading until the final lap McGee managed to nip back just before the line taking the victory with 0.195 seconds to spare!
2019 Tandragee 100 : Derek McGee on his way to 4 race wins
Crowd favourite (and one of mine), Guy Martin, was out on his Classic Bullet 3 BSA and raced really well, taking second on the road behind Dean Stimpson (in a great battle that lasted the entire race), and winning his class in the ‘Millside Engineering / R Heatrick / W McCombe / Woolsey Concrete Classic.‘
2019 Tandragee 100 : Dean Stimpson and Guy Martin locked in battle in the Classic Race
It was great to see Tandragee buzzing – hopefully there were a few new spectators who came along, because if that was your first road race experience you should be hooked. Tandragee 2019 had it all – loads of racing, minimal unavoidable delays, great structure and awesome weather.
2019 Tandragee 100
2019 Tandragee 100 : DM71 Davy Morgan in hot pursuit 2019 Tandragee 100 : I’m sure you seen this Ducati on its back wheel! 2019 Tandragee 100 : Guy Martin took the 1000cc Classic Class win
Friday’s qualifying session is over (03/05/2019) and we really were treated to a great start to the 2019 Tandragee 100. Maybe a little bit chilly, but other than that it was dry, bright and just a little breezy.
A full evening of 8 practice and qualifying sessions has laid out what is bound to be a great Race Day tomorrow. Derek McGee showing his class again with three pole positions lined up for tomorrow and don’t forget Derek Shiels, Adam McLean and Michael Sweeney who have all showed their intentions are are snapping at McGee’s heels!
Another great and welcome surprise was that of Guy Martin and his 750 Custom BSA, which will be running in the Classics. Guy has always said he loved Tandragee and he has shown that love with an appearance at this year’s event and looking at the times he has been laying down he wants on that podium and is about 3 seconds off the top spot on it!
2019 Tandragee 100 : Guy Martin’s Custom 750 BSA Classic
When things got running after the roads closed they never stopped. A full Practice and Qualifying Session ran pretty much seamlessly with one one race incident in which Robert McCrum came off his Monosport in the evening’s final qualifying session. lick edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
2019 Tandragee 100 : Davy Morgan 71
2019 Tandragee 100 : The pack chasing Indy
2019 Tandragee 100 : Derek McGee aiming for a second Man of the Meeting this year? Newcomers Free Practice
2019 Tandragee 100 Practice Sessions : Newcomers Free Practice
Derek McGee looking for another win at the 2019 Cookstown 100
The 2019 Cookstown 100 was a cracking’ event, even though the weather didn’t play nice.
Next up is the 2019 Tandragee 100 – practice and qualifying starts tomorrow – followed by Race Day on Saturday (04/05/2019).
So to wet your appetite and have a quick look back at last week, here are a few images from the 2019 Cookstown 100. (Apologies – the quality could be better but due to other commitments I was restricted to just using my camera phone .
See you in Tandragee!
The full results of the 2019 Cookstown 100 can be found here :
The 2019 Irish Road Racing Season got off to a flying start at Cookstown over 26th and 27 April 2019.
With Storm Hannah still showing her venom bringing heavy rain and strong winds right up to the latter part of the morning, the fact that the Cookstown club managed to run a full program is even more impressive. A great days racing that was unfortunately finished just a little bit to early as the feature race, the eight lap Cookstown 100, was red flagged on its first attempt due to weather – resulting in a five lap restarted race – which was red flagged due to a race incident.
Derek McGee looking for another win at the 2019 Cookstown 100
More importantly though no one was seriously hurt over the event and even though the final race was red flagged there was a full schedule and pretty constant day of all day racing.
Guess who decided to match that flying start? Yep, Derek McGee, Derek Shiels, Adam McLean and Michael Sweeney! All were lapping in the Superbike race within 0.3s of each other and less than a single second separated the four at the end of an unfortunately red flagged race (twice).
Derek Shiels off to an impressive start to his 2019 Road Racing Season at the Cookstown 100
There was a little bit of chopping and changing off the schedule over the day due to the ever changing weather conditions. Something which the organisations managed really well and a lesson others could learn well:
Get the right bikes out at the right time as the conditions allow.
Remember the only red flag due to weather that we had was in the final race. This was in a day that the only precipitation we didn’t have was probably snow!
Paul Jordan showed a strong start to his 2019 Season
The results as published below represent the running order from the Official Race Program – along with the races that got carried over from the Friday evening session as well.
Only two of the planned four races 2019 ran tonight after the weather closed in on Cookstown. We have literally had a scorching Easter period in Northern Ireland this year and then for the first day of road racing it decides to change to the exact opposite of what we had and get wet, miserable and cold. Things are to get even worse overnight with the approaching ‘Storm Hannah‘
However – don’t panic just yet – it looks like things will improve a little – it’ll not be glorious – but it will hopefully be dry tomorrow for race day!
This is the timeline for 26/04/2019 – 27/04/2019 – so it looks like a wet night and a wet start but things should improve in the later part of the morning.
2019 Cookstown 100 Weather Forecast
But, you came here for race results so without further ado – here we go :
The Irish Road Racing Season is officially back! The 2019 season is, as is customary, kicked off with the Cookstown 100. Today is the dominated by Practice and Qualifying and a few races to wrap the night up.
Qualifying has just finished so here are all the results and timings that will set things up for tomorrow’s race day!
It’s great to be back on the roads, and here’s to a safe, incident free and exciting 2019 for all riders, teams, events, marshals, spectators, fans, teams… you get it – here’s to 2019!
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Race 1 – The Junction Retail & Leisure Park SUPERSPORT RACE
Race 1 – Tides Restaurant Supersport Race (6 laps)
2019 NW200 Supertwin Second Qualifying
2019 NW200 Newcomers Free Practice Qualifying
2019 Tandragee 100 : Dean Stimpson and Guy Martin locked in battle in the Classic Race
2019 Tandragee 100
2019 Tandragee 100 : DM71 Davy Morgan in hot pursuit 
2019 Tandragee 100 : I’m sure you seen this Ducati on its back wheel! 
2019 Tandragee 100 : Guy Martin took the 1000cc Classic Class win
2019 Tandragee 100 : Guy Martin’s Custom 750 BSA Classic
2019 Tandragee 100 : Davy Morgan 71
2019 Tandragee 100 : The pack chasing Indy
2019 Tandragee 100 : Derek McGee aiming for a second Man of the Meeting this year?
2019 Tandragee 100 Practice Sessions : Newcomers Free Practice
Derek Shiels off to an impressive start to his 2019 Road Racing Season at the Cookstown 100
Paul Jordan showed a strong start to his 2019 Season
