Round 6 at the Northshore

Sunshine and Mud at Coolaveely

Irish DH NPS Round 6 - Coolaveely

Sunday 24th September 2007

Sept 07

Round of the Irish downhill NPS brought us to Coolaveely Forest, outside Ballycastle, Co Antrim. A track resurrected in 2006 from 'back in the day', it's been described as one of the best tracks in the country for beginners and people wanting to come along for 'a big of fun'. This was evident in the numbers that signed on, as out of 120 riders, 21 of these riders had never raced in the 2007 Irish NPS.

The weather throughout the 2007 Irish NPS has been disastrous, with the only attempt of a dry race having been the first two rounds of the NPS, however, the weather in Ballycastle remained dry throughout the weekend, but the recent wet weather meant mud tyres were the order of the day for the weekend.

Here's how the riders fared:

U14

A great second run from Dan Sheridan meant that Dan secured his first win of 2007, having climbed up from 6th place, to 5th, 4th and 2nd at the other rounds. Dan has completed every round of the NPS so far, and it looks like this commitment has paid back with a win. Kyle Rimmer managed to record a second run time of 1.48.168 to beat Liam William's first run time of 1.48.649 by half a second to secure second place. Liam took third, with Niall O'Dowd registering a first run time of 1.53.157 following a few mechanicals on Saturday, while Christopher McGlinchy managed to hold on to fifth place, a fraction of a second ahead of Michael Rae with a time of 1.54.760 to 1.54.784.

U14 winner - Dan Sheridan

Paul Smith

Christopher McGlinchy

U16

A large turnout from the U16 category, with nine new additions to the category. Davy Graham proved he was unbeatable by securing his 7th first place position in the league with a time of 1.27.423. With plenty of support to cheer him on, Paul McGrady registered his second '2nd' place of the 2007 NPS with a time of 1.28.408. Gavin Kelly put in a second run time. five seconds faster than his first run to register a time of 1.34.348 to secure third position, ahead of Bikecology's Marc Potts who managed a second run time of 1.35.304. Conor Scanlon turned up for his first NPS of 2007 to hold on to fifth place with a time of 1.42.493.

Unbeatable - Davy Graham

Women

A new addition to the women's category in the form of Natalie Jedda gave Joanne McCallum a bit of competition for the day. Joanne had a first run time of 3.10.309 and Natalie took 19 seconds off her first run time to give Joanne a run for her money with a time of 3.11.334, however it wasn't enough and Joanne held on to first place. Congratulations girls!

Vets

Following what it seems a bad set of first runs for the vets, they all seemed to step it up a notch in the second run. Bananaman Carl Young took his second win of the 2007 NPS with a second run time of 1.44.973 to hold off Stevie Graham, who after trying to bribe the timing ladies, managed to do it all himself to beat Stevie Davidson to second place with a time of 1.45.284. Stevie Davidson, off form since his few weeks in Whistler only managed third place with a time of 1.53.555 while Epic's Tom Sheridan took fourth place half a second ahead of Robert Graham with a time of 2.13.455 to 2.13.831. Victor McMinn had a taster for the course on Saturday, hopefully we'll see him do some timed runs in the near future

Tom Sheridan

Look out Snapper - Here I come!

Sport

Gary Wall turned out for his second race of the Irish NPS to take his first place for the second time with a time of 1.32.720 while Barry Hamilton also turned out for his 'second' race of the year to claim his '2nd' place for the 'second' time with a 'second' run time of 1.40.685. David Pepper was involved in a major collision at the finish line while overtaking newcomer Joe Jackman. Thankfully no serious injuries. David registered a time of 1.42.966, ahead of Robert Ferguson, who also had a huge collision on the finish line which resulted in a broken collarbone. Robert managed a time of 1.44.074 on his second run ahead of James O'Reilly who held on to fifth place with a time of 1.45.477.

International Rider - Thomasz Kutej

Michael Collins

Eamon O'Reilly

Peter Cole

Senior

Again with most of the top senior riders going faster on their second run, it was all to play for, however, Epic's Brian Cooney held off stiff competition to claim first place with a time of 1.25.135. With his first race of the 2007 Irish NPS, Michael Boyd took second place with a time of 1.27.333, half a second ahead of James 'Jimmy Mac' McFerran on a second run time of 1.27.967. Rory Beirne registered a second run time of 1.29.355 while Paul Fitzgerald managed his best result of the 2007 NPS with a second run time of 1.35.619.

James McFerran

First race in 2007 Jonathon McGlinchy

Stephen 'Pinky' Embelton

Master

While you would expect the Master riders to be able to look after their bikes, after signing on, three of the seven master riders had to retire after Saturday's practice due to mechanical!

Michael Cowan took a break from the timing to register a second run time of 1.28.559, with David Lenehan taking his best result of the year with a great second run time of 1.35.495 ahead of Ian 'McGinty' McIntyre's third place time of 1.40.382. Raymond McGrady had all the support in the crowd, however, he was just put off the podium and managed fourth (and last) place with a time of 1.53.543.

Junior

Ewan Doherty took his fourth win of the 2007 Irish NPS with a second run time of 1.23.368 ahead of World's team-mate Jason Murphy. Jason also had a better second run time of 1.24.884. Andrew Godfrey started rumours of being the fastest guy on the track on Saturday, and managed to hold on to third place with a time of 1.29.270 ahead of Banbridge's Johnny McKee who has a second run time of 1.32.512. Cormac Leyden, his first race back had a great second run with a time of 1.34.409 to secure fifth place.

Elite

A remarkably close top three in the elite field with Epic's Gerald Wolfe coming out on top with a time of 1.20.240. Gerald took first place ahead of Colin Ross, who, following a dislocated finger on Saturday, pulled out all the stops on Sunday to take second place with a time of 1.21.012. Following what Chain Reaction's Dale McMullan described as the best run of his life, punching the air and falling off his bike on the finish line, Dale took third place, a fraction of a second ahead of Colin with a time of 1.21.402. Jamie McCullough took fourth place with a time of 1.25.41 with Tom Power registering a second run time of 1.25.945 to take fifth place.

Jamie 'Turkey' McCullough

Richie Smith

Following a few months break in the NPS, a great weekend's racing, good weather, a great crowd and great craic made the race feel like the first of the year. Congratulations to everyone who turned out to race, especially the newcomers (and oldcomers).

A big thanks to Chain Reaction Cycles for all their help in organising the race, as well as the timers, paramedic, marshals, George Doc for the pic and anyone else who helped out in any way.

The next race is due to take place in White Horse, Waterford on 20/21st October 2007. Look out for a preview on the site shortly. See you all there.