ZealOptics Irish NPS 2006 League Results

October 06

The final round of the ZealOptics Irish NPS 2006 took place last weekend with almost 300 riders taking part in the league, almost 100 more than the 2005 NPS with riders describing it as the best race season ever held in Ireland. Here's how the categories fared:

U14s

35 U14s battled it out for top spot in the U14s category. Having completed all seven rounds, Bikeology’s Robbie Reid took the top position in the U14s with 3 wins out of 7, a 2 nd, 3 rd, 4 th and 9 th position, which he lost as part of the elimination of your worst result when riders complete all rounds. Gavin Carroll finished up in second place after competing in six out of the seven rounds with two first place positions and only missing out on top place in the league by 30 points. Bikeology’s Mark Potts, after breaking a collar bone in the first round at Ballycarton, secured himself third place in the league, and he also competed in all seven rounds. Kyle Rimmer started the season well with two first place positions in the Ballycarton and Lumpers, even though he suffered a major injury in Mallow, Kyle managed to complete all seven rounds and secured himself fourth position. Oldcastle’s Jake Crean finished fifth place in the league competing in six rounds with some good results.

Full U14 Table HERE

U16s

Breathe Ezee’s Ewan Doherty has been the U16 rider of the year, finishing first place in six out of the seven rounds and the only rider in the NPS to finish with maximum points on 1500. A great result for Ewan who should be moving up to Junior category next year. Killarney’s Jason Murphy took one win, two second places, two thirs and a fifth of secure second place in the league, just ahead of Epic’s Colin Franklin, who with 1060 points, started the season off on a succession of third places, followed by a fourth and two second places. Plush’s Matthew Coulter also competed in six rounds to secure fourth position followed by Plush’s Erwin Buick with 760 points to take fifth. The second most competitive category with 53 riders competing throughout the seven rounds, four of whom managed to complete all four.

Full U16 Table HERE

Vets

New to the vets category for 2006, and winner of four rounds out of the seven, Banana Man, Carl Young managed to run away with first position with an impressive 1400 points. Carl was followed closely by Epic’s Richie Byrne , who could have been heading for the top spot but for missing the final round. Richie won two of the six rounds he competed in to take second place, ahead of 021 Racing’s David McManus who completed in four of the seven rounds. One-timers to the vets category this year included Michael White, Michael Kirk, Dave O’Toole and Anthony Cornforth who we hope to see more of in what’s expected to be a very competitive vets category for 2007.

Supervets

New category for 2006, Supervets (50+) saw the auld boys battling for the top position. TC Racing’s Tom Clogher’s hopes were put on hold after missing rounds five and six, however, he came back in round seven to take the top position from Epic’s Peter Popham with an impressive 1250 points having won four of the seven rounds. Peter also competed in five of the seven rounds, taking two first place positions to take second place, ahead of Chain Reaction/Plush Derek Cowan who competed in three events to secure third place ahead of Vincent Bradley who competed in rounds one and two.

Ladies

An impressive turnout of ladies this year as seven girls competed for the Irish NPS top prize. Plush’s Michele Macartney took the top position with two wins, ahead of TC Racing’s Aoife O’Donoghue who also took two wins this season, however, Michele managed to secure her position by taking four second place positions managing to keep on top by only 80 points with a score of 1300. Aoife, having missed a round in the middle of the season, came second with a respectable 1220 points with Maeve Baxter winning two of the seven events (the only two she competed in) to take 500 points and fourth position. Another newcomer this year, however, regular to the scene is Joanne McCallum who took 435 points after competing in four events with some Scottish ladies who turned out for the final round making up the rest of the names of the ladies.

Seniors

Over 100 riders competed in the senior category this year, however, Plush’s Ciaran Steger Hoey ran away with the top spot in the highly competitive category by taking five out of six wins in the races he competed in. 021 Racing’s Sean Murphy, who managed to compete in all seven events took second place with a win in the final round and a couple of good podium finishes. Revolution’s Mark Lennon, having only competed in four of the six events managed to finish in third place with a few good results with Mark Barry following close behind with 580 points after taking a win in Mallow and second place in Lumpers. Missing at the end of the season, it would be good to see Mark’s talent racing again soon. Bikeology’s Ryan McGuire finished in fifth position on the table having maybe not the best results, but his commitment to the scene, having competed in all seven rounds saw him end up with a respectable 549 points!

Full Senior Table HERE

Masters

Of the seven rounds, six different riders took first place in the NPS, with the exception of Joe Ward who won two rounds, however, it was Plush’s Ian McIntyre (better known as Ian McGinty) who just managed to take the top position by turning out for all seven events. Plush’s Mark Dickson took second place with a few good results, followed by European Champion Joe Ward who took third position after competing in five out of the seven events. Marcus McKay took fourth position with an impressive win in the final round in Bree, with Stewart Carr, who also competed in all seven events taking fifth position.

Full Master Table HERE

Junior

Surprisingly one of the smallest categories of 2006, with only 18 riders competing throughout the season. TC Racing’s Richard Smith finished up in the top position, having won the first two rounds in Lumpers and Ballycarton. Richard finished second in the other three events Rich and it was enough to keep Dan Wolfe off the first place position in the NPS, Dan having won three out of the seven rounds and only competed in four. Karl O’Sullivan finished in third place having competed in six of seven rounds with some good results with Seanan O’Riordan taking the fourth place with 880 points ahead of Gareth McKee who competed in all seven rounds to secure 805 points and fifth position in the league.

Full Junior Table HERE

Elite

Six winners for seven rounds, in the most hotly contested category of the year! With Dale McMullan sitting in first place in the table for the past few weeks, Dale was put off the top position by Darren Quille who managed to be consistent in three rounds by taking second place, with a fourth place, and a dodgy start to the season placing him 13 th and 16 th. Congratulations to Darren. Gerard Wolfe finished in second place, after only competing in four rounds and winning two of them, with Chain Reaction/Plush’s Dale McMullan taking third place after competing in all seven rounds, winning one. Plush’s Stephen Beattie finished fourth in the league, again with one win and some consistent results with Plush taking fifth place in the form of Wallace Erwin who competed in six out of seven rounds.

Full Elite Table HERE