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Davy Morgan Racing headed to Co.Tyrone for the opening Road Race of the Irish Season, the Cookstown 100 held on the 2.1 mile Orritor Circuit that is not one of Davy’s favourites. However it is the first race and everyone wants out there so a massive entry, too many races and two long days lay ahead.

It was to be Davy’s first run on his new Honda Fireblade Superbike, along with the CSC R6 Supersport Yamaha and CMS ER6 Supertwin Kawasaki. Practice went reasonably well with Davy comfortably qualifying for the A Race’s in all three classes, taking 10th in both Supersport & Supertwin and an impressive 8th first time out on the Honda for the Superbike Races.

There was an Invitation Supersport Race on the Friday night before the end of qualifying and using it as more track time Davy had a steady run and brought the much improved CSC R6 Yamaha home in 10th place. It was now a case of wait and see when the predicted heavy rain would come and whether it would affect racing.

Race Day and the team awoke to heavy rain, but it stopped early enough to allow the track to dry before race time. With Davy out in the first race of the day the Non-Championship Open Race, there was some concern that there were still damp patches around the circuit so he decided to ride the CMS Honda Superstock as it is a machine he knows well. He made a decent start, but was swamped by the Superbikes on the run to the first corner. He dug in and claimed a few positions back to bring the CMS Honda home in 10th place, just over a second away from eighth at the flag.

Next was the Supersport Race and again another decent start this time on the CSC R6 Yamaha, but he braked a fraction early and was again knocked back at the first corner. Again he rode hard to pick up a number of positions and eventually found himself in a race long duel with Mark Hanna, he proceeded to lap 2.2 seconds quicker on the last lap than he did in 2013 to claim 12th place.

There was then a long break until the Championship Cookstown 100 Feature Race, but at least the roads were dry and Davy took the new Honda Superbike out to race for the first time. He was hoping to better his placing and time from the earlier Open Race, but that did not happen as the handling was just not right and it did not help that Davy and another rider were passed under a waved yellow flag. He did however manage another 10th place finish and more importantly valuable miles on the new bike.

His final outing was on the CMS Supertwin Kawasaki and this time he made a flyer of a start and did not make the same mistake at the first corner. He continued to lap consistently and faster than he had done before and at one stage was up to sixth according to the commentator, but at the flag he was in 8th place.

Speaking afterwards, Davy commented; “Cookstown is probably my least favourite meeting, I have never really did well at it, the circuit is poor and there is too much hanging around. Although If I am honest I am a bit disappointed with my results this weekend as all the bikes felt good first time out even though there is still a bit to do them to get them right for me, especially the Superbike, it’s an awesome piece of kit, but it wanted to wheelie everywhere. I know I am still a bit rusty as I have had limited track time due to a lack of finances, but after getting this weekend over I would hope to be further up the timesheets at Tandragee next week as it is a real circuit.

Thanks to anyone who bought any merchandise or donated towards the racing budget, things are really tight this year and it all really helps. Big mention to Tony (Morris) from CMS for all he does for me and giving me fantastic machines to ride, Wogi for a good 650 engine, Steve (Caffyn) from CSC Racing for getting the 600 sorted and Simon (Bleasdale) for all his work and input. Thanks also to the whole team who worked hard throughout the weekend; David, Jamie, Mark and Sally, Trudy, Maurice, Ashley, Bertie, Jonathon and Short Stuff…… they make racing fun, now for Tandragee a real circuit.”