Twenty four brave souls lined up for tonight’s club road race at Orlock. With heavy showers forecasted and the risk of poor visibility, the time keepers took the wise decision to cut the distance from five laps to four. Riders were split into three groups, with the front group getting two minutes on the middle group and a further one and a half minutes on scratch.
The middle group looking cheerful at the start
Great to see three Ards riders in scratch
By half distance, the scratch group had made it through to the front and as the rain started, James Ambrose (North Down) attacked. He extended his lead over the remaining two laps to take an emphatic victory. Second was Mark Thompson (North Down), followed by Jody Wright (Phoenix).
In the battle of the Ards men, the judges didn’t need a video to separate the riders – the torrential rain on the finishing climb did the job for them! First once again was Ricky Topping, followed by Robin Wilson, Peter Scott, Graeme Brown, Joshua Porter and Mark Brown.
In the overall road race trophy standings, things couldn’t be closer – Ricky is now tying with Paul McMinn on 27 points. With just one counting event left to go, it will all come down to the final race in Carrowdore on 18th August.
| Place | Name | 28/4 | 12/5 | 2/6 | 30/6 | 28/7 | 18/8 | Total |
| 1= | Paul McMinn | 10 | 7 | 10 | 27 | |||
| 1= | Richard Topping | 7 | 10 | 10 | 27 | |||
| 3 | Robin Wilson | 7 | 2 | 7 | 16 | |||
| 4 | Wayne Garrett | 5 | 10 | 15 | ||||
| 5 | Geoff Brennan | 2 | 7 | 9 | ||||
| 6 | Barry Mitchell | 3 | 5 | 8 | ||||
| 7 | Peter Scott | 2 | 5 | 7 | ||||
| 8= | David McCamley | 5 | 1 | 6 | ||||
| 8= | Mark Brown | 5 | 1 | 6 | ||||
| 10= | Alex Porter | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| 10= | Joshua Porter | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| 12= | Darren Tombs | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 12= | Richard Hanna | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 12= | Graeme Brown | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 15= | Gareth Murray | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 15= | Conn Russell | 1 | 1 |
Thanks as always to the marshals and team keepers for doing a great job tonight.
Finally – a reminder that the club BBQ is on Saturday 8th August from 3.30pm. Tickets are £6 for adults and £2 for kids. If you want to go, please let John Carty or Desi McIlwraith know before next Tuesday (4th) so that we can confirm numbers for catering purposes. Thanks.