O’Leary, McNulty and Mercier Share the Victory Spoils
If last year’s White Mountain was a tough event due largely to some heavy rain beforehand, this year’s enduro was a fabulous contrast. Sunday 17th April got off to a misty start but once the sun broke through it looked like a great days racing was on the cards for the second round of the Southern Centre and TORC championships. The organisers had laid out a fast and flowing course, broken up into three checks with each check shorter and slightly more difficult than the previous one. The final check was timed so that on each lap it became progressively tighter – it might not be just down to the test times to decide the results. Last year’s long limestone uphill which seemed to go on forever, was a distant memory as this year it was shortened and run in reverse. There was a nice mixture of technical wooded sections, fast fire road and a couple of tricky climbs to keep all riders working hard for a good place at the finish.
The special test was a very different challenge to the previous enduro, fast and furious; this was a test that would reward the brave. A quick uphill blast from the start led into some wide open forestry track before turning left and into the woodland for the first time. A short section between the trees with a few corrugations then winding the power on for a run uphill and back to the wide open two lane track set the pattern for the rest of the test – a nice flowing mixture of fast forestry track, absolutely flat out fire road and technical sections through the woods it was a lovely test to ride.
The Expert class had four laps to complete with the test timed on every run. With Robbie Lynn and Mick O’Leary swapping fastest times all day, it was Mick’s superb first run though the test that gave him enough of a cushion to take the top step of the podium by five seconds at the end of the day’s racing. Philip Caldwell carried a minute but did enough to take 3rd place. Graeme Vigors set the quickest test time of the day before having to pull out on the third lap after his moose and tyre came off the rim. However the ironman ride of the day had to go to Sheamie Hayes who proved you don’t have to be on the latest blue or orange machinery to be competitive as took his ’97 KDX200 to 4th place after dropping a minute on the tight check.
Having won last time out Dano Curren put up a good fight for the four laps in the Senior race and was disappointed having to settle for second place after his steering head bearings failed, rumour has it he promised his bike any new part it needed if only it took him to the finish, perhaps there won’t be as many cable ties holding it together next time then! No stranger to the podium, there was the rare sight of Dave McNulty getting to the end of a race as he proved the old saying “to finish first, first you must finish” by actually finishing, first. Daniel Balmforth showed that the check times were tight by being the only other senior rider to stay clean on time and took third place ahead of Richie Leonard who had the ‘Berg up to speed in the test but carried a minute and had to settle for 4th place instead of a possible 2nd.
In the clubman class it was business as usual as Jonny “I’m going to need a bigger trophy cabinet” Mercier took another win. Looking fast and smooth in the test and setting quick times on each of his three runs, he comfortably topped the timing sheets. Robert Regan was a minute behind Jonny on the road and that’s how much longer it took him to do his tests, as he did enough to stay in front of James Farrell who took third place.
The sportsmen had three laps to do and Tyrone Murphy took the win from a very consistent Colm McHugh and Gordon Taylor rounded out the podium in 3rd.
Thanks to the TORC club for another well organised event.
Source: Richard Murphy www.torcireland.ie