By Willis Marshall
MICHAEL PEARSON RACING
Michael Pearson produced a personal best in Saturdays H2 Engineering Bush Road Races in Co-Tyrone, when the Carryduff Forklifts/Morrell Kawasaki rider finished his day with two podium places, on a day when the heat was the real winner in front of the huge crowd that lined the 3.3 mile public road circuit.
Pic: Pearson leads John Burrows in the Open Senior Race
Picture by tgreggphotos.com
A runners up place in the Supersport 600 race was followed up with a third place finish in the feature race of the day, the Cohannon Inn & Auto Lodge Grand Final, and a fourth place finish in the H2 Engineering Open Race, in which Pearson was again hampered by that dreaded arm pump, with Pearson now admitting, that surgery will be the only way to fixed his re-occuring problem.
Michael Pearson: "That was hard work out there today, with the heat really hard to deal with espicially on such a demanding circuit. I am pleased with how the day went, but I think that I could have won at least one of those races out there only for my arm pump meaning that I was having difficulty in the closing stages of all three races.
I got a good start in the Open Race and lead for a couple of laps, but once I got past lap four, the arm pump kicked in and I knew then that is was not going to be my race.
I tried all I could to hold onto third place, but I just could'nt and let it slip to John Burrows who got me by 7/100's of a second.
The Supersport 600 race was equally as demanding as I was having problems during practice with the suspension of the Carryduff Forklifts Kawasaki. We tried to harden it, and it did make a bit of a change, but still not enough over the bumps and jumps around the Bush.
I tried everything I could and was well pleased to take second place behin William Dunlop, but I had to ride hard to keep Burrows at bay.
We changed the rear tyre for the Grand Final race, where I started in pole position and again I lead the race for a couple of laps before my arms went again.
I was more determined this time around not to loose a podium finish, but Davy Morgan was making life really difficult for me. He was riding really well, and at one stage we nearly had a coming together when approaching the final right hand corner.
I went for a handful of front brake, and to my horror, nothing, then she bit in, but by this time I was running into the corner to hard and ran into Davy. I apoligised to him afterwards, but there was nothing I could do, and thankfully Davy accepted it.
I was still able to keep in front of Davy to the line and take third place behind William Dunlop and John Burrows, so to get third place was really pleasing.
I am going to have to look into getting this arm pump thing fixed once and for all, so it looks like a trip to the surgeons knife at the end of the season".
Willis Marshall (Team Manager) "Well, along with the sun burn, the days racing at the Bush was indeed really hot, and it was one of the best National Road Races that I have seen Michael riding at. He had that problem with the arm pump, and even with that handicap, he still managed to get inside the old Supersport 600 lap record and take a very fine second place finish behind William Dunlop.
Again, Michael has shown that he is a quality rider with plenty more to offer, and with each race he is getting stronger and stronger. Next stop for the Team is the Skerries in two weeks time, so here's hoping for more of the same".
