By David Miller
Relentless Suzuki's Cameron Donald proved he is back in full race trim with a brace of second places at today's Cookstown 100 and chased Superbike winner Ryan Farquhar all the way in the final big race.
The Antipodean had a big crash at last year's TT but has clearly recovered from the shoulder injury to run some fast laps at the Irish track.
"I'm very happy. Of course I never race to finish second, but we did say today was all about feeling our way back in and progressing with the Superbike; we have achieved both of those goals so I'm going home a happy man. The difference between national road racing and the international stuff is like chalk and cheese - it really shocked me in that first race.
"I have never been ultra-successful here at Cookstown with its stop-start nature, preferring the fast and flowing circuits, but I did take Ryan Farquhar all the way in that last Superbike race.
"He's the man on form and I won't take that away from him, but I sat back and watched for a few laps and did think I had the measure of him. Unfortunately I made a small mistake coming onto the last lap and those 50 yards made the difference between winning and finishing second.
"In the 600cc race I got caught up in a bit of 'riff-raff' which made me laugh a bit as there were some whacky moves being pulled on me. It was a good spin-out and fourth place at the end wasn't so bad. It's been a good day."
