William Dunlop has secured the prestigious Duke Road Race Rankings Championship for 2015 emulating his younger brother Michael who took the title two years ago in 2013.

The twenty-four round series which commenced at the Spring National Road Races at Oliver's Mount in April and concluded at the recent Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix saw William having a season long battle with fellow 'pure roads' rising star Ivan Lintin which was only resolved at the final round in the Southern hemisphere when the chequered flag fell.

Lincolnshire rider Ivan Lintin, riding for the R&C Express Team took an early lead in the 2015 series after the opening round at the North Yorkshire venue remaining in front until the fourth round, the first of the International rounds, the North West 200, where seven-times Duke Rankings winner Ryan Farquhar took over at the top of the table.

Ian Hutchinson took over the helm after the Isle of Man TT Races only for Ivan to regain the leadership after the Barry Sheene Race Festival held at Oliver's Mount, round nine - a lead he was to hold on to until the Ulster Grand Prix where William demoted him to second spot.

The Ballymoney rider continued to head the Duke Rankings as the European rounds were run and concluded once again at Oliver's Mount for the International Steve Henshaw Gold Cup Road Races in September with a mere 24 points separating the pair after 23 rounds with only Macau remaining.

Neither William or Ivan had been invited to race at the tight, twisty closed public roads circuit, the Geoff Duke Trophy looked set to be returning to Ballymoney where it had spent 12 months, two years earlier.

Then Ivan Lintin received an invite to compete and his team R&C Express took up the offer. Ivan making his debut on the 3.8028-mile Circuit da Guia course had to finish in the top six to snatch the championship series from his Ballymoney rival.

In the event Ivan had a steady debut ride finishing in 18th position and finishing second in the Duke Road Race Rankings Championship.

William Dunlop opened his Duke Rankings account at the second round, the Cookstown 100 taking 13th spot in the table, quickly moving into third after a very wet Tandragee 100, the climbing to second after the North West 200.

His incident during the TT saw him drop to seventh before his return to action at the first of the Southern Ireland rounds, Kells, returning to second after the Skerries 100 Road Races.

Not being 100% fit, William chose to miss the Diamond Jubilee Southern 100, dropping him to fourth in the title chase, although after Walderstown he was up to third.

A double race victory and record lap at the 'Race of Legends' at Armoy, William was back in second spot and so to Dundrod and the Ulster Grand Prix in mixed conditions a 2nd; 4th; 5th; 6th & 10th was enough to put the Tyco Team rider at the top of the Duke Rankings.

Adding race wins at Faugheen and Killalane, William consolidated his lead at the head of the Duke Road Race Rankings and after 24 rounds has emerged as a worthy winner, becoming only the sixth rider to see his name engraved on the coveted Geoff Duke Trophy since the Championship Series started in 2002.

Peter Hickman (Briggs Equipment BMW) took a spectacular win at the 49th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix in a race that was closer than the final margin of 6.2 seconds would make it appear.

Second place for Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles BMW) was scant reward for his hard work and pace throughout the weekend. Convincingly fastest in qualifying and warm-up, he took a gamble on opening enough of an early advantage on a softer tyre to maintain his lead to the end of 12 laps, but by half-distance the dice had fallen in Hickman’s favour and Jessopp had noreply, though he was far enough ahead of the rest of the field that his second place was never under threat.

After a 12-lap battle, Michael Rutter (Penz13.com BMW) finished third, adding to his vast array of silverware earned at Macau but missing out on increasing his record 8-win tally by just under ten seconds – that was the margin between first and third places on an afternoon when a dozen riders all tried
their hardest to get on the podium.

Said Hickman: “It feels absolutely fantastic! This is only my second time in Macau. I’ve not been doing the road racing scene for very long, but my British Superbike championships have been pretty strong the last couple of years. It’s fantastic to be able to transfer between the two.

“We all knew from the qualifying and practices that Martin [Jessopp] was really strong, and the pace that he had compared to everyone else seemed too much, to be quite honest. I was on the Dunlop tyres and [Jessopp and
Rutter] are on different, so we knew that we were going to be strong for the second half of the race, and I figured that Martin was going to pull away in the first five or six laps and then hopefully we’d come back to him. Martin put in such a fast lap. I thought, I just need to be clean, don’t make any mistakesand just be as fast as I can. As soon as I had a chance, I was close enough at Lisboa and I passed him straight away. Fortunately the plan worked.”

1 60 Peter Hickman GBR BMW 2:24.940 12 —12 laps— 152.01
2 40 Martin Jessopp GBR BMW 2:25.271 12 6.267 151.66
3 7 Michael Rutter GBR BMW Motorrad 2:26.662 12 15.600 150.22
4 4 John McGuinness GBR Honda 2:27.169 12 17.711 149.71
5 5 Gary Johnson GBR BMW Motorrad 2:26.804 12 18.807 150.08
6 9 Ian Hutchinson GBR Kawasaki 2:27.038 12 19.279 149.84
7 22 Conor Cummins IOM Honda 2:27.267 12 19.990 149.61
8 3 Horst Saiger LIE Kawasaki 2:26.899 12 28.280 149.98
9 13 Lee Johnston GBR BMW 2:29.624 12 49.604 147.25
10 16 David Johnson AUS BMW 2:29.242 12 53.864 147.63
11 20 Dan Cooper GBR Honda 2:29.735 12 55.940 147.14
12 15 Jimmy Storrar GBR Kawasaki 2:29.957 12 1:02.717 146.92
13 10 Mark Miller USA EBR 2:31.224 12 1:05.208 145.69
14 54 Steve Heneghan IRL Yamaha 2:31.301 12 1:23.187 145.62
15 39 Allann-Jon Venter RSA Honda 2:32.742 12 1:25.671 144.24
16 111 Brian McCormack IRL TAG Honda 2:31.681 12 1:28.012 145.25
17 62 Sam West GBR Kawasaki 2:31.463 12 1:28.171 145.46
18 6 Ivan Lintin GBR Kawasaki 2:33.190 12 1:33.991 143.82
19 34 Ben Wylie GBR Bimota 2:33.088 12 1:34.615 143.92
20 14 Andre Pires POR Yamaha 2:33.526 12 1:45.114 143.51
21 24 James McBride GBR Kawasaki 2:33.765 12 1:47.634 143.28
22 11 Paul Shoesmith GBR BMW 2:35.402 12 2:03.516 141.77
23 88 Brandon Cretu USA Bimota 2:38.907 11 —11 laps— 138.65
24 1 Stuart Easton GBR Yamaha 2:27.087 7 —7 laps— 149.79
25 48 Herve Gantner SUI BMW Motorrad 2:34.279 4 —4 laps— 142.81
26 31 Dan Kruger CAN BMW Motorrad 2:39.657 4 52.523 138.00
27 71 Davy Morgan GBR Honda 2:33.344 4 6:08.889 143.68
28 26 Didier Grams GER W&G BMW 2:31.227 2 —2 laps— 145.69

Mar-Train racing can confirm they have agreed to release rider Dean Harrison after two successful campaigns together. The Bradford rider was due to complete a third season with the Yamaha UK outfit but instead will take up an alternative offer after team boss Tim Martin agreed to release him from his contract.
Mar-Train completed their first full season of pure road racing in 2014 as they ran the talented Yorkshire man on supersport machinery alongside their British Championship campaign. Successes at Oliver’s Mount and the Southern 100 as well as an impressive brace of fourth places on their Isle of Man TT debut were enough to convince the Lisburn outfit to retain the twenty six year old’s services for a full assault on the roads in 2015.

Harrison and Mar-Train spent 2015 developing the all new YZF-R1M as the official Yamaha UK road racing team and despite some set-backs they gave the machine its first ever road race victory, set the fastest ever Yamaha lap at the TT and lifted the Cock O’ The North and Gold Cup titles, whilst also notching up numerous supersport victories.

Team Principal – Tim Martin
“Dean has been instrumental in getting the new R1M to where it is now and has been a pleasure to work with over the past two years. He is a talented young rider and needs to follow his own aspirations, I wish him all the best and would have no hesitation in working with him again in the future. Hopefully we will be in a position to confirm our 2016 plans in the next week but our commitment to Yamaha UK and the YZF-R1M project remains intact, we made a lot of progress throughout 2015 and are looking forward to reaping the benefits with a successful 2016.”

Karl Radley – Motorsport Co-ordinator for Yamaha UK
“Taking a brand new bike road racing is always going to be a steep learning curve, but Dean kept pushing and delivered some fantastic results on the new R1M, for which Yamaha is very grateful. Dean’s commitment and work ethic has been rock solid throughout the season and whenever the chips were down, he has always bounced back and remained utterly professional. We understand and accept his decision and I would like to thank him both personally and on behalf of Yamaha UK and wish him the very best for the future.”

Following a damp start to the proceedings, the promoting club, The Cookstown &District MCC , Supported by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, ran a very successful record breaking sixteen race programme, along with Two parade lap sessions for Stars of the Past.

 

Ali Kirk closed the gap in  the 2015 ISB Championship, after scoring an emphatic double at the ISB Meeting at the Enniskillen 100 revival short circuit meeting on Saturday last. Second in both races on Saturday, Ryan Rainey now leads the ISB by a mere point going into next weekends Davy Wood Memorial meeting at Bishopscourt.

In the opening ISB race, it was IFS Rider, Ryan Rainey, making his debut at the circuit, who got the holeshot ahead of pole setter Ali Kirk. Rainey managed to open a small gap between himself and Kirk, but towards the end of the race, Kirk was looking hungry for the win, and he managed to nip through on the final lap to take the win. For Rainey, who went with a wet set up, which meant he couldn’t really push towards the end ,in the quick drying track.

Young Jason Lynn took victory in the opening 600 race, but it was fast finishing Christain Elkin who set the fastest lap of the race ,in what was almost a photo finish!, hot on their heels was Korie McGreevy, with local rider Aaron Armstrong putting in a sterling performance to take 4that his local circuit. In race two , it was Robert Kennedy, (who crashed out of race one when challenging for the lead),  who led from start to finish, with Elkin again making in ways on the final laps, to take second from Korie McGreevy, who maintains his record of podium finishes in all national races has has competed in here this year. In one of his best ever performances, Dean Campbell took 4th ahead of race one winner, Jason Lynn, Robert English finished a rather lowly 6th and 8th,but still leads both Irish and Ulster championships

Aaron looked set to take his first ever win in the supertwins race, when he led race one from the start, only to be overhauled by Christain Elkin on the final lap, in what was yet another photo finish!

Armstrong, was again the leader in race two, but unfortunately, slid off at half distance, leaving Elkin to inherit the lead, but it was Ross Patterson,(third in race one) who overcame a poor qualifying, that took the honours !,However, second place was good enough to give Elkin the Irish Championship. Luke Hazlett leapfrogged Mark McConville in the production stock twins classes when he scored a double, with McConville taking  a second and third.

Andy Brady scored an easy win in the opening Pre Injection race, despite being unchallenged, Brady set a new lap record for the class. Second went to Stevie McKeown with Roger Aiken in third.

Race two was stopped at half distance, due to a heavy shower of rain, and it was fast starting Brady who again took the win, this time from Steve Titterington and Stephen McKeown.

Cahal Graham won the opening 125 race from Nigel Moore and Melissa Kennedy, with Moore taking the second race win from Eugene McManus and Graham  .

Peter Fletcher won the opening 400 race from newcomer Mark Camblin and Thomas McAdoo,in race two, it was Shane Sweeney who dominated , taking an easy win from Camblin and Fletcher. McAdoo, in only his third race meeting of the year, took 4th in race 2.

Dubliner, Luke O Higgins continued to dominate the 125/300 production class, when he did the double, but he was hotly pursured by Irish champion elect, Connall Courtney in both races. Third in race two, and fourth in race one, and best of the 125 runners, 12 year old Scott Swann was robbed of having his name etched in the history books as a possible youngest ever lap record holder!, Thanks to a faulty transponder, Scotts fastest lap, ( a new lap record for the class)  doesn’t count, so the new lap record holder is Courtney..

Barry Davison won the opening classic race  from James Conroy, with Conroy reversing the positions in race two, but these results were enough to give Davison the Irish and Ulster 350 s/c classic Championships, to add to his double championship win at Killalane last week. Armagh rider,George Stinson and Mark Johnston both took3rd and 4th placings. In the 500 class,it was  Alex Conroy taking the double from Freddie Stewart.

Keith Millen scored a double in the forgotten Era classes from  Stewartstowns Gary Millar and  Stewart McNish, however, McNish is now the new Forgotten Era lap record holder. Millar incidentally, the only rider competing on saturday, that raced at ST Angelo back in the 70s!

Amongst the interested spectators were Ballinamallards British 1000 Superstock championship leader, Josh Elliot, who along with fellow Competitor in the same series, Nico Mawhinny, took time out of their busy schedule to attend the meeting and mix with the race fans.

Dean Harrison was in scintillating form at Oliver’s Mount this weekend as he saw off a top quality field to come home with the Gold Cup and Cock O’ The North titles.

The Bradford man signed off on a difficult season by treating his legion of fans to a superlative performance, comfortably winning all four superbike races on his YZF-R1M Yamaha as well as lifting a supersport victory on his R6 machine.

In Saturday’s wet qualifying conditions Harrison put his R1M on the front row in second place for the Cock O’ The North and Senior races whilst he would start seventh for the David Jefferies Supersport races. The twenty six year old could have been forgiven for thinking his recent bad luck was set to continue after a first lap collision forced him to retire from the opening supersport race but that was to be the only blip in an otherwise perfect weekend.

The Cock O’ The North meeting had to be abandoned back in July but Harrison picked up where he left off in the re-run by claiming the title for the third year in a row. After shadowing Lee Johnston and Daley Mathison in the early laps the Yamaha UK man pushed his way into the lead on lap four and pulled away to win by almost eight seconds. Harrison then led the following Senior race from the start, pulling away from Linton and McGuiness before a red flag brought a premature end to proceedings with the result declared.

Sunday’s conditions couldn’t have been more contrasting with blue skies and bright sunshine replacing the sometimes torrential downpours of Saturday. A packed crowd were treated to another dominant display from the Yorkshire man however, who started off by qualifying in second place for the supersport race and on pole for the Gold Cup and Senior races.

Harrison had never won the Gold Cup having missed last year’s event due to injury but he put recent upgrades to the electronics package on his R1M Yamaha to good use by scoring a comfortable eight second victory over Ivan Linton and Lee Johnston. A fierce supersport battle loomed next with Saturday’s victor Lee Johnston but it was the Mar-Train man who came out on top adding a ‘six hundred’ win to his tally for the weekend with a five second win.

The second Senior race completed the weekend and Harrison’s confidence in his new Maxton rear suspension was obvious as he set the fastest lap of the weekend to blitz the field and record a nine second victory and a total of four wins on the YZF-R1M.

Team Principal – Tim Martin
“What a fantastic weekend and the perfect way to finish off our 2015 season. Dean was simply untouchable this weekend, he is used to winning races around here but the manner in which he did it this weekend proves how far we have come with the development of the R1M. He was able to control the races and win comfortably in every condition thrown at him which shows how good the Metzeler tyres are as well. We’ve had some challenging days this year but thanks to the support of YMUK we are really making progress now. Our bikes never missed a beat this weekend so a big thanks to Cliffy, Hubert, Martin, Andy and Connor for their hard work. We go away now to plan more testing and look forward to hitting the ground running in 2016.”
 
Rider – Dean Harrison
“It has been a while since we’ve had a weekend like that, apart from the coming together in the first six hundred race that was a perfect weekend. The R1M has come on leaps and bounds thanks to the Maxton rear shock and new electronics, it’s just a different bike to ride. We had every condition thrown at us but the bikes were mega and I was able to just control the races. It’s nice to finish off my year with Mar-Train like that, they’ve put so much work in all year and deserved a good weekend. Thanks to all the fans who braved Saturday’s weather, it’s always a great event, brilliant to get the Cock O’ The North again and really chuffed to lift the Gold Cup.”

Mar-Train’s first year as Yamaha UK representatives was, as expected, a challenging one as they developed the all new YZF-R1M Yamaha. Ten podiums including six wins and a 130mph lap at the TT however is no mean feat for a brand new motorcycle and a further nine podiums and four victories on the iconic R6 supersport rounded off by this weekend’s trophy wins set the team up well for 2016. Mar-Train would like to thank all of our sponsors, product sponsors and fans for their support throughout this season and look forward to working with you all again in 2016.