Cookstown/BE Racing takes positives from Cookstown road races

Cookstown/BE Racing owner and manager John Burrows was the first to admit that his team didn't set the world alight at the Cookstown 100 road races which were staged in front of a bumper Tyrone crowd, but Burrows believes that the seeds of success were definitely sown and he was in a positive frame of mind as the Tandragee meeting came up on the horizon.

Burrows said: "The dreadful weather we had recently stopped all my riders getting to grips with their new machinery in testing so basically we had to use Cookstown go get up to speed and iron out all our teething troubles. We didn't get notable results but all my riders made progress which will stand them in good stead in the coming busy weeks."

Stephen Thompson rode the Cookstown/BE Racing Suzuki GSXR 1000 in the two Superbike races and despite only getting a fourteenth place finish in race one for his efforts, Thompson is enthusiastic about his future prospects with the machine.

He said: "The big Suzuki is an absolute rocket ship and I'm sure when we get to the North West we'll be a front running package. I had to use Cookstown to basically familiarise myself with the machine."

Michael Sweeney had hoped to be on the 250GP rostrum but was sidelined during the race after the Cookstown/BE Racing RS250 Honda broke a reed valve.

Sweeney commented: "The little 250 let us down but it's a very competitive bike and we'll be on that rostrum sooner rather than later. I'm confident about the rest of the season in the quarter litre division."

Nigel Moore is a proven winner at Cookstown on a 125GP machine and hoped to challenge for Supertwins honours on the Orritor circuit when he rode the Cookstown/BE Racing Kawasaki 650 for the first time.

However, Moore was disappointed by a ninth place finish.
He commented: "I qualified fourth fastest and I was hopeful of improving further in the race. However, we were held an awful long time on the starting grid and the 650 overheated. That drained her of a lot of power and I just had to nurse her to a top ten finish."

Moore's luck was completely out in the Moto 3 race when, with third place safely within his grasp, his 125 Honda seized.

Burrows concluded: "We had various problems at Cookstown but nothing that can't be sorted out quickly.

Stephen won't be riding at Tandragee but I'm confident that when the racing starts there Michael will be in the hunt for a top three 250GP finish and Nigel will be fighting for top three finishes in both the Moto 3 and Supertwins races."