Graeme Vigors wins the opening round of the Fastlane MCC Summer Series as sprint enduro racing arrives in Ireland
Jim O'Neill Rode Strong For Second
Playing on the sprint enduro format that originated down under in Australia and was more recently adopted by Britain in the British Sprint Enduro Championship, the Fastlane MCC club threw their hat into the ring and staged the first ever sprint enduro in Ireland at their motocross track in Doon as part of the opening round of their Summer Series on June 19th. Utilising part of the motocross track and it’s surrounding woodland by linking it with some hi-speed grass track sections, the club set out a testing “sprint lap” of approximately eleven minutes and with eight timed laps planned for the day’s duration it would prove to be a physical but enjoyable day’s racing for the 65-strong rider entry.
The slippery conditions during the opening timed laps played right into the hands of VMX.ie KTM mounted Graeme Vigors who quickly established an early lead in Grade A. With conditions drying, Vigors maintained his command of the class upping his pace and continually extended his lead with each passing lap to comfortably top the standings and grab the race win by almost two minutes. Behind him however the battle for the remainder of the placings intensified as Jim O’Neill and Paul McLoughlin fought it out. Slow to start, McLoughlin found himself on the back foot as O’Neill stretched out an early lead between the duo. By lunchtime McLoughlin had matched his pace and began inching his way back into contention with each run. With one run left it was still all to play for but O’Neill kept his cool and held onto to second spot by a mere three-second margin after 81-minutes of timed racing!
Darryl McGuire Missed the Cut to Finish His Day 4th in Grade B
In only his first time mixing it between the trees, 17-year old Michael McGinn wasted little time in learning the ropes and grabbed victory in Grade B. Struggling early on and getting caught out by some of the technical wooded sections of the course, McGinn began to settle into the run of things upping his pace with each outing posting some impressive times to eventually top the Grade B scoreboard by over a minute at the end of the day. Chasing him hard was fellow enduro rookie Richard Topping. Starting at the rear of the pack, Topping would have his work cut out throughout the day passing slower riders during each test. Pushing hard he also managed to drop his times as the day progressed but it wouldn’t be enough to match the flying McGinn and he would have to be content with second. Ending the day third was initial pace setter David McNulty. Posting consistent times throughout the day, McNulty would finish just ten seconds behind Topping at the end of the day.
Thomas Kinlan was the top performer of Grade C capping a commanding victory with a six-minute winning margin. Following him home was Hamish Brown in second. Unable to match the pace set by Kinlan, Brown, Tom Reagan and Mark O’Rourke battled it out for the remaining podium spots with Reagan beating O’Rourke for third by less than five seconds.
Graeme Vigors Blitzed the Field to Win
Graeme Vigors: “I really enjoyed my day and found the whole event fun. Initially I wasn’t too worried about my times and were I was fitting in. I don’t get to compete a whole lot nowadays and was just having fun riding again. During the first two runs it was still quite slippery but it soon dried out and the track became faster. I felt good on the bike and knew I was riding well so I just tried to maintain that pace throughout the day. With the final test left to run I put my head down and pushed hard to see how fast I could go. I’m delighted to have won and really enjoyed this type racing. Overall I found it a really good day’s racing that had a nice mix of everything in it.”
Nick Craigie: “I’m very pleased with how the day turned out. We put a lot of effort into marking the course and organising the timing system. We stayed lucky with the weather and the course dried out well early on after Saturday’s heavy rainfall. With eight timed laps plus the initial sighting lap we had a lot of tired but happy faces by the end of the day. I’m happy with the positive response we’ve gotten from the riders and look forward to more of these sprint enduros at future events.”
Photo Credit: Leo Daly
Results:
SprintCross-Final-Overall-1 SprintCross Final – Cateogory