Locals well placed for final round of Clubmans Championship

The meeting, which doubles up as the penultimate ISB meeting, is the last short circuit of the season in Ulster.

We were told a couple of months ago to expect an announcement during September, regarding the future of short circuit racing in Ulster. As yet no announcement has been forthcoming, but according to the press release I was sent last week, this weekends meeting will be a trail for the 2013 format. Seems the new format has already been decided.

With 50 points up for grabs in all the Clubmans classes, there are a couple of championship still to be decided. Kevin Keyes has already tied up the 125 Production class, already 54 points ahead. In the GP125 Newcomers, its Kia McGreevy is 60 points ahead of Kyle Cross, so that ones sorted as well.

It’s far from cut and dried in the Supersport 600 though. Any one of three riders, given a certain set of circumstances, could tie up the championship. Ahoghills Luke Johnston, on 325 points, tops the table, but on paper Joseph Loughlin could win the title. Joe is 31 points adrift, while in third place, Jason Lynn, numerically, could also win. He is 14 points back of Loughlin.

Dundrods Robert Kennedy could be a spoiler for all three. Robert is well capable of winning the Clubmans races, and arguably would have done just that at Bishopscourt a few weeks ago, but became involved in Joe Loughlins crash. Robert can’t win the championship, but can take points off any of the top three. That one will certainly go to the wire. Luke Johnston has, however, the Junior Superstock championship already won.

Dave Butler has clinched the 650 Stocktwins title, as has Stevie Titterington with the Pre Injection class. All the Classic championships are already sorted with RJ Woolsey, James Conroy, Pete Simpson and Eanie Horan already having done enough to secure their respective championships.

In the ISB series, of which this is the penultimate meeting, both Nigel Percy and Robert English are tied at the top of the GP125 class, with 127 points each. Either of them could win, although Adam McLean and Paul Robinson could still play a part in the destination of the overall title. Dave Walsh is the Moto450 champion, while in the 250GP class, Nigel Percy also tops the table. The Randalstown rider has 135 points, while Thomas Lawlor is second on 118. Nico Mawhinney is third on 102, so in theory and one of the three could win it.

The SS400 class is also still open. Jason Floody is leading at the minute, on 106 points. Alvin Griffin is second on 104, while Ballymenas Mark Shields is third on 95, riding one of the very few 2 strokes in the class. Andrew Irwin leads the Supertwins class on 108, while Conor Parkhill, on one of Ryan Farquhars ER6’s is second on 92. Lee Wilson, in third place, has 76.

By my reckoning, David Haire only needs steady finishes to tie up the Supersport 600 championship. He has 126 points, with his nearest rival, Antrims Mark Hanna, on 88, already having announced his retirement and put his bike up for sale. Next is Cameron Donald, who won’t race any of the final couple of rounds. Donald has 87.5 points. Dunadry’s Jonny Buckley, on 77 points, is 49 points behind Haire. I don’t for a single minute think that Buckley will lie down and accept second place, though. Reading the championship tables, Lisburn and the Antrim area have more or less a monopoly of the top 10. There are three riders from Antrim and 6 from Lisburn. Cameron Donald is the only man not to live in either town. Drew Jamison tops the Junior Superstock table, having scored 5 wins and 148.5 points. Jamie Patterson from Antrim is second on 100 points.

Denver Robb must be favourite for the ISB championship. Even though he trails Cameron Donald he will compete at the rest of the rounds, while Donald won’t. Denver has 121 points to the 125 of Donald, while Emmett O’Grady is next on 62. Gavin Johnston heads the Superstock 1000 championship. He has 99 points, 11 more than Kenny Robinson. Dylan and Derek Lynch are on 163 points in the sidecar series, 47 ahead of Scobby Killough/Brian Butler.

This Saturday’s programme will be busy. Championships have to be decided in the Clubmans series, and hopefully they will not be spoilt by some of the slower National riders getting in the way. In all honesty, I am not a great fan of combining the Clubmans and the National championships. I feel there are other, more sensible ways to organise championships and to run the races, especially at this stage of the year.

According to the info I have, there are races for ISB and SBK Cup; Supersport; Supertwins; Moto3/Moto450; Sidecars; 250GP; SS400; Clubmans Supersport; Junior Superstock; Pre Injection; Production 650 Twins; Newcomers 125; Production 250 4 stroke; Classic and Forgotten Era. Obviously, some races will have to be combined. Practice is due to get under way at 9am, and racing starts at 12. The admission has been reduced to try to make the days racing a bit more attractive to families. It’s now £5 for the day, with a free programme. For about 8 hours entertainment sure it’s for nothing.