The second round of the Irish DH NPS took place on Saturday and Sunday 4th and 5th May 2007 in Clashnacrona, the most southerly race point of the 2007 NPS.
The event, run by 021Racing, managed to attract 154 riders to the steep hillside of Clashnacrona Woods, outside Dunmanway, Co Cork.
While the weather held up on Saturday, the wind arrived on Saturday evening, with Sunday morning practice staying bright and blustery, however, the second run, weather took a turn for the worst as the rain came in from the South coast and brought along thousands of midgets!
Here's how to riders fared:
Under 14
Due to the inclement weather conditions, all U14 riders managed to take their best time of the day in their first run. Gavin Carroll took his second consecutive win of the year, with a time of 1.51.331. Kyle Rimmer was in top form, managing a time of 2.04.064 to take second place, while Liam Williams managed a 2.12.365 to take third place. Cameron Cornforth, ten seconds behind Liam took fourth place, while Paul Smith managed to hold on to fifth place with a time of 3.09.262.
Under 16
In the Under16 category, David Graham managed to hold on to his first place with his first run time of 1.44.795, while Greg Callaghan improved his first run time to close in on Davy with a time of 1.45.817. Conor O'Neill took third place, again quicker on his second run with a time of 1.51.319 while Gavin Kelly's first run time of 1.57.066 enabled him to hold on to fifth place.
Women
Only one lady competitor in the women's category as Maeve Baxter turned out to take an easy first place! Unfortunately during Maeve's second run she came across a red flag as the race was put to a halt, so never managed to receive a second run time, however, registered an impressive first run time of 2.32.664
Vets
Five vet riders turned to to compete for top spot, however, Team Real Cycles/Commencal's Stevie Davidson managed his second win of the year with a first run time of 1.56.872, less than a second ahead of Bananaman Carl Young, who also managed a first run time of 1.57.023. 021's Dave McManus took third place with a first run time of 2.01.775, while Chain Reaction's Michael White took fourth place, the only vet rider to improve his first run time by four second to register 2.12.335, ahead of TC Racing's Tom Clogher with a first run time of 2.41.945.
Sport
22 riders turned out to race the sports section with newcomer to racing, Jian Siluo, taking first place with a first run time of 1.53.713, six seconds ahead of Tom Elliott. Tom managed a first run time of 2.11.969, ahead of TC racing's Thomas Clogher, a second behind with a time of 2.01.761 while Alan Connolly took fourth place with a time of 2.08.736, a tenth of a second ahead of Ray McCann who registered a time of 2.08.817. Only one of the top five sports riders participated in their second run!
Senior
The top three riders in senior shared the 1.45 second, with Team real Cycles/Commencal's Pete McDonagh coming out on top with a time of 1.45.084. Killarney's Ben Mullen, a fraction of a second behind Pete took second place with a time of 1.45.127, while Epic's Brian Cooney registered a time of 1.45.557. James Burns took fourth place with a first run time of 1.46.292, while Chris Mallen managed to hold on to fifth place with a first run time of 1.47.787 just ahead of Bobby St Ledger's 1.47.831.
Master
The battle of the Chain Reaction's club members got underway with the guys sharing the top four places. Michael Cowan took first place with an impressive second run time of 1.43.89 following a crash in his first run. Joe Ward, coming back from injury, registered an impressive first run time of 1.44.859 claiming second place, while Ian McIntyre took third place, a fraction of a second ahead of Marty McGuigan with times of 1.46.023 and 1.46.133 respectively. Epic's Sean Herilhy claimed fifth place with a first run time of 1.53.071
Junior
Killarney's Jason Murphy managed his first ever win in juniors by taking first place, two seconds ahead of Ewan Doherty with a first run time of 1.38.926. Ewan Doherty held on to second place with a time of 1.40.627, while Epic's Colin Franklin took third place with a time of 1.42.415, a fraction of a second ahead of Kendor Management's Seanan O'Riordan. Johnny McKee took fifth place by registering a second run time of 1.45.114.
Elite
First place was claimed by Ireland team coach, Glyn O'Brien, who managed a first run time of 1.34.209 to hold off Richard Smith who on his first race back this year, registered a first run time of 1.35.621. Epic's Gerard Wolfe held on to third place with a first run time of 1.37.939. Positions 4th-7th shared the 1.41 second with Tom Power coming out on top (1.41.072) ahead of Greg O'Keefe (1.41.177), Darren Quille (1.41.264) and Andy Smith (1.41.287)
The craic
The South West of Cork proved to be an excellent venue for the second round of the NPS, however, it put an end to the dry spell of weather we'd been having in recent weeks to totally change the events of the day for many. Unable to improved in second run, due to downpours of rain and a slippier, slidier track in the wet!
At the start of the second run, a crash by U16 rider, Anthony Hayes, put the race on hold for a couple of hours while the first aiders attempted to remove Anthony from the track. Thankfully, Anthony is in full health and was out of hospital that evening.
This caused a time delay of a couple of hours between race runs, and with the weather, many riders were undecided about whether to complete their second race run, while others were preparing for tactics to improve their first run time against the odds.
It's worth mentioning that only 32 riders improved on their first run time, whether it be skill or some other tactics, congratulations goes to all.
The highlight of the weekend was the introduction of live timing by NACC events, the team previously responsible for the British NPS. Times were available when riders crossed the line, to compare and contrast to their other team mates. Congratulations to 021 for a great timing system.
Being the bank holiday weekend, many competitors had the Monday off work and managed to stay in the South West Cork area. Many traveled to Barley Cove in Mizen Head, where the surf was good and the craic was better. A sight for sore eyes below!
