Following the opening round of the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike championship at
Silverstone a fortnight ago, the series makes its first trip of two this season to the Cheshire
circuit, Oulton Park. After an eventful opening weekend with a four rider line up, Team
#109 will have their numbers cut in half, with just Eunan McGlinchey and Graeme Irwin in
action in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 and 1000 classes, with no round for the
Dickies Junior Supersport championship this upcoming bank holiday weekend.
An unfortunate debut weekend in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 saw Eunan
McGlinchey crash out following an incident off the start line, bringing his weekend to a
premature end.
The weekend got off to a difficult start for McGlinchey and Team #109 following some
little set up issues with their new Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 on Friday morning during the
opening free practice session. However just as they did last season, they worked together
to iron out the issues and improved every time they returned to the track, firstly in the
second free practice session later that afternoon, where he went from twentieth to sixth.
The following day saw McGlinchey improve yet again, scoring fourth place in the opening
qualifying session of the campaign, which would see him head the second row on the grid
for the following days race. Expectations were high in the garage as a number of further
changes were made following the qualifying session as the team still felt there was more
improvements to be made with the bike in preparation for the race.
As the lights went out in the first race of the new year, an incident at the start involving
McGlinchey and another rider caused a red flag situation, and the Aghadowey rider was
transferred to the medical centre. It was unfortunate end to the race for the reigning
Junior Supersport champion, but luckily he suffered no major injuries and will be back in
action this weekend at Oulton Park.
Graeme Irwin also suffered a crash in the second half of the two part one hundred mile
race, before taking a twenty-fourth place finish in the third race of the weekend onboard
the Team #109 Kawasaki ZX-10RR. Before Irwin had even taken to the track at Silverstone
he had a lot of eyes on him, following an impressive pre-season as well as the motocross
record he brings into the paddock.
In a huge class of over fifty riders Graeme put in an impressive performance in the
opening free practice session of the weekend on Friday, narrowly missing out on a top
thirty finish, taking thirty-first in the final classification. The second practice session of the
weekend saw Irwin improve both his time and position, taking almost half a second off his
earlier time, and breaking into the top thirty, finishing in twenty-ninth.
The split qualifying session saw only forty riders qualify to race on Sunday, and just as he
did on Friday, Graeme took three tenths of a second off his best time of the weekend, and
improved his position, qualifying in twenty-eighth position for the two part race later that
afternoon. Unfortunately after a solid performance in the opening twenty-four lap race
which saw Graeme finish in thirtieth, he suffered a crash early in the second part, failing to
score a finish in the second race of the Superstock 1000 career. However, on Sunday Irwin
was soon to put his tough race two behind him, putting in a great performance to cap off
the event, taking twenty-fourth place in the third and final race of the weekend, brining
his solid debut to a close in impressive fashion.
The next round at Oulton Park this weekend over the May Day Bank Holiday will see
McGlinchey hope to put the bad luck from Silverstone behind him and get his first points
on the board, with Irwin hoping to continue his improvements in the highly competitive
Superstock 1000 class.
Team #109 would like to thank all their sponsors for their continued support, Liftrite.ie,
Team Green Kawasaki, Kinsale Hotel & Spa, MMD Construction, EMS Copiers, Ohlins
Racing, CMRVC, Glenn Irwin, Fuchs Silkolene, R&G, JOG Tuning, PP Tuning, Arrow
Exhaust, JTec Sports, SBS Brakes, Gorman Crash Repairs, Jim McCann & Sons Family
Butchers, James McCann Photography, Spears Racing, HEL Performance, Unlimited
Industries, and Samco Sport.
Photographs courtesy of James McCann | @jmccannphoto | www.jmccannphoto.com
No comments:
Write comments