2003 Ulster Cup Race Reports
Ulster
Cup Round 1 – 8/03/04
The Ulster Cup got underway
at Nutts Corner in wet conditions on the 8th March. Competitors
arrived to the sight of pouring rain, but by the first heat the sun was out and
the track was beginning to dry. The rain returned, however, providing action
aplenty in the finals.
First to take to
the track for their final were the Minimax drivers. At the start it was poleman
Richard McAlorum who got the jump, quickly pulling out a clear advantage. Winter
Series winner Raymond Lusty fell back to fifth, allowing McAlorum to carry on as
he pleased, winning by fifteen seconds. Jamie Glover drove consistently to come
in second, ahead of Jonathan Price who drove well from the sixth row of the
grid.
In Cadet it was
lady driver Samantha Thom who beat the boys to win convincingly from Honda
driver Joel Mulholland. Stephen Bradley came in third ahead of last year’s NC
and GP winner Rikki Gordon.
At the start of
the Junior Max race it was Chris Irwin who managed to get away first, continuing
to pull out a healthy lead. Stephen Rutherdale started to claw back some time at
the end but could do nothing about the pace of Irwin who took a well deserved
victory by just under two seconds. William Cochrane came in third, well clear of
Alistair Jackson in fourth.
The Pro-Kart
Novices raced together with the TKMs, providing some close racing as they mixed
it with the two strokes. Peter McMullin won convincingly from fellow TKM runner
Thomas Madden, followed closely by the first black plate Pro-Kart of Alister
Jackson.
Rotax Max drivers
again turned out in force with over forty entries, necessitating a B final which
was won by Aaron Roper. In the A final it was Jason Curran who pulled out a
steady gap from Neville Bell, holding it to the finish. GP winner Brian McCarte
came in third ahead of Philip Harkness who drove a great race from fourteenth on
the grid.
The Intermediates
and Junior TKMs raced together due to a surprisingly small entry of only two in
the latter class. The Intermediate drivers provided a close battle with Winter
Series winner Michael Flynn, Edward Jackson and Johnny Clyde all battling it
out. Flynn was in the lead when it mattered, winning ahead of
Jackson
.
Clyde
came in third, only six tenths of a
second behind the winner. Further back Laura Taggart claimed the JTKM win.
In Pro-Karts it
was Mark Harvey who claimed a convincing win ahead of Henry Price. Robert
Robinson came in third, ahead of Andrew and Tommy Fegan who were covered by less
than a tenth of a second at the flag.
The Gearbox
drivers made a welcome appearance and provided some very close racing in the
tricky conditions. In 125
Ulster
less than a second cover the top three
at the finish, after a battle which saw the lead change lap after lap. It was
Dean Jackson who took the win in the end, narrowly edging out Gary Agnew and
James Irvine.
Spectators of the
250 / 210 final witnessed another close and exciting race. From the off it was
between Stephen and Robert McAdam, Liam fox and Matthew Campbell. Fox led until
part way through the race when Robert McAdam took over. With two laps to go, Fox
spun at the hairpin, and Stephen McAdam came through to claim second from
Campbell
. The lone 210 of Desmond Black
circulated consistently to claim a finish and fifty points.
Report: Stephen
Rutherdale
Ulster
Cup R2 –
30/03/03
Kart racers from all over
Northern Ireland
turned out in force for the second
round of the Ulster Cup. The M Sport Karting sponsored meeting attracted a
massive entry of well over 150, as well as attracting great weather to keep them
all happy.
First out for
their final were the Minimax drivers. Poleman and heat winner Raymond Lusty was
quick to get the jump at the start and pulled out a clear advantage which he
would keep to the flag, whilst all the action took place behind him. Richard
McAlorum and Stuart Lyness raced hard for second all the way to the flag,
swapping places numerous times. McAlorum took the place in the end from Lyness
and a fast catching Jamie Glover.
Rotax Max drivers
again provided a massive entry of 45 and some very close racing to go with it.
Once again a B final was needed, which was won by Philip Harkness after the race
had to be stopped when Aaron Roper rolled it at the chicane. In the A final it
was once again Jason Curran who the others had to try to catch, winning by a
clear 3 second margin. Behind him five drivers fought for second, with Gary
Blair heading Mark McIvor for the final podium positions.
In Cadets Steven
Bradley took a well deserved victory in the final, after also winning one of the
heats. Rikki Gordon chased him all the way to the flag, but could not overhaul
Bradley to be in front when it mattered. Joel Mulholland was the first Honda
Cadet driver home, finishing fifth overall.
Another class requiring a B final was Pro-Karts, with
another 40 strong entry. Mark Harvey came through from ninth to win the B final
ahead of early leader Vincent McCaffery. In the A final poleman Sean Doherty
pulled out a comfortable advantage in the early laps. Doherty was able to hold
the gap steady as a huge train of karts fought hard for second place. Nigel
Stewart secured second place at the flag ahead of Robert Robinson. As evidence
of how close the racing was, only just over 3 seconds covered the karts from
second place to twelfth.
The Senior TKM
drivers produced a strong entry and some good racing to go with it. William
Smith was clearly the man to beat, pulling out a huge lead of nearly ten seconds
at the flag. However, the battle for second was quite close between Peter
McMullin and Don Murray, with McMullin taking the 40 points for second with
Murray
not far behind.
Laura Taggart took
another maximum points haul in Junior TKM, again racing with the Intermediate
drivers. The Intermediates were another class to provide a great race for
second, this time between Michael Flynn and Edward Jackson. Flynn took the
second place narrowly ahead of
Jackson
, but was well behind victor Jonny
Clyde who ran away with the race from the start, winning by 7 seconds.
At the start of
the Junior Max race it was poleman and double heat winner Stephen Rutherdale who
got away first. Rutherdale pulled out a steady gap in the opening laps which he
was able to keep to the flag. William Cochrane came through into second, with
the final podium position being take by Kris Loane who also took the race’s
fastest lap in the process.
Comer Cadet: 1) Steven Bradley
2) Rikki Gordon 3) Derek
Martin
Honda Cadet: 1) Joel Mulholland
2) Stefan Lyttle 3) Andrew Warwick
Minimax: 1) Raymond Lusty
2) Richard McAlorum 3) Stuart
Lyness
Junior TKM: 1) Laura Taggart
2) Aaron Newell
JTKM Intermediate: 1) Jonny
Clyde
2) Michael Flynn
3) Edward Jackson
Junior Max: 1) Stephen Rutherdale
2) William Cochrane 3) Kris
Loane
Senior TKM: 1) William Smith
2) Peter McMullan 3) Don
Murray
Rotax Max: 1) Jason Curran
2) Gary Blair 3) Mark McIvor
Pro-Kart: 1) Sean Doherty
2) Nigel Stewart 3) Robert
Robinson
Report: Stephen Rutherdale
Ulster
Cup R3 –
12/04/03
Once again there was a massive entry for the third round of the
Ulster Cup held at Nutts Corner on April 12. The WGP Motorsports sponsored event
took place in great weather, with only a small threat of rain near the end of
the day. With all classes except gearbox racing, and 3 heats being needed to
sort out the Rotax Max and Pro-karts there was a lot of racing to get through.
The big three in
Cadets – Rikki Gordon, Derek Martin and Steven Bradley – once again provided
some very close racing in the heats. The final was no different with the three
pulling away from the start, fighting to take over first position. Steven
Bradley put in the fastest lap of the race on lap 10 by nearly half a second
with two laps to go. It wasn’t enough and Rikki Gordon came through to take
the win by a nosecones length from Martin, with Bradley only a tenth further
back in third. There was disappointment for the third placed man as he was later
excluded for a technical infringement, promoting William Buller to third.
Once again the
Pro-Karts provided a great race this time racing on the longer circuit (as were
the rest of the Senior classes). Double heat winner Derek Wilson was looking to
add another fifty points to his tally in the final, his only problem being that
championship forerunners Sean Doherty and Robert Robinson had the same aim. It
was clear from the off that the race could go any way as a train of five karts
lined up to take the lead, which was changing every lap. In the end Doherty
managed to find the extra speed to take the win ahead of Robinson and Wilson.
Heat wins in
Senior TKM had been divided between Peter McMullin and Thomas Madden, the two
appearing to be very evenly matched even setting the same lap time in the first
heat. Unfortunately, a great race was lost in the final when Madden retired
after two laps, leaving McMullin to win from Paul Moore in second.
In Minimax it was
once again Raymond Lusty who was enjoying the dry conditions, taking two
convincing heat wins. In the final Lusty once again got away first at the start
and with a battle between Jamie Glover, Isaac Lyons and Stuart Lyness going on
behind him he was able to pull out a gap which he would to the end of the race.
Lyons
set the fastest lap on the penultimate
lap of the race to take third behind Glover, demonstrating what he could have
done if he had some space to chase Lusty.
The Junior Max
final saw an interesting race between championship leader Stephen Rutherdale,
Kris Loane and Scott Taggart. Taggart led away from pole position at the start,
but wasn’t able to get any sort of gap as Rutherdale and Loane were right with
him. At half distance Rutherdale made his move at the top corner to take the
lead, followed through shortly by Loane. The former was able to lead quite
comfortably until the backmarkers intervened on the last lap. It wasn’t enough
for Loane and Rutherdale went on to take a narrow win and increase his points
lead further.
Michael Flynn was
on flying form in JTKM Intermediate taking two heat wins with championship
leader Johnny Clyde not far behind both times. It was clear that the final was a
race between these two, and nobody else was going to be allowed to get close.
Flynn led away from pole with
Clyde
glued to him. The latter was pushing
hard and set the fastest lap, but no matter what he tried he could not wrest the
lead from Flynn. The gap of 0.18secs at the flag reflected the close racing
between the two. Laura Taggart took another Junior TKM victory, coming in fourth
overall.
Once again Rotax
Max was by far the biggest class, with over forty drivers out to get experience
on the long circuit before the Ulster Championships on 21/22 April.
The B final provided a close race between the top four, even though they were
looking certain to qualify for the A final. Mark Hamilton took top spot ahead of
Eamon Gribben and Stuart Henderson. The A final once again turned out to be one
of the best of the day’s races. Poleman Richard Fitzsimons pulled out a good
margin in the first half of the race and looked on course for victory. Reigning
NIKA champion Jason Curran should never be ruled out and after breaking free of
his pursuers after half distance he proceeded to chase and catch Fitzsimons.
Curran took the lead with two laps to go, only for Fitzsimons to snatch it back.
Curran took it back and was in front when it mattered to take another victory.
Philip Clements could not catch Fitzsimons despite setting the fastest lap and
came in third.
Report: Stephen Rutherdale
Ulster Cup R4 - 04/05/03
Round 4 of the
Ulster Cup took place as on 4th May as the second event of a busy
weekend which included a round of the N. I. Championships the day before. As is
so often the case, the rain started in the morning and only got heavier as the
day wore on. No doubt everybody was glad to get home to sit down in front of the
fire at the end of the day.
As the Cadets made
their way through Paddock Bend for the first time it was Rikki Gordon who took
his now familiar lead. Gordon was able to run away with the win as the man who
most expected to be his closest contender for the win, Steven Bradley, was
penalised for arriving late to the grid and had to start from last place.
Nevertheless, Bradley drove a strong race to get back up to third behind Derek
Martin who drove a great race to come in second, albeit nearly ten seconds
behind Gordon. Joel Mulholland came in fourth to take the win in the Honda Cadet
class.
The rain came down
hard just before the Pro-Kart / TKM final, making driving conditions even more
treacherous. Despite the conditions, a great race was fought between three
drivers for second place – the identity of the winner having long since been
confirmed as Tim Kerr pulled away at the front by himself. Andrew Fegan came
through in the end to take the second place ahead of Sean Doherty and Mark
Dunlop. Only half a second covered
second to fourth
positions. The three TKMs were
struggling in the torrential conditions and it was Paul Moore who stayed on to
take the win from Clifford Wylie.
At the start of
the Junior Max final poleman Chris Irwin got clear at the first corner and he
was able to pull out a good lead. Second and fourth placed men on the gird
Stephen Rutherdale and Alan Davidson weren’t so lucky and both were pushed
into the gravel, Rutherdale falling into midfield and Davidson right to the
back. Keith Forsythe and Alistair Jackson took over second and third places
until Rutherdale repassed them both to set off in pursuit of Irwin. There
weren’t enough laps however, and Rutherdale had to settle for second behind
Irwin who took a great win and also closed the points gap to Rutherdale at the
top of the championship table. Davidson completed his splendid recovery drive to
take a very well deserved third just ahead of
Jackson
.
Championship
leader Jason Curran took another win in Rotax Max to extend his lead at the top
of the table to over a hundred points.
Gareth
Conn
gave Curran a good run for his money
by driving a great race to come in second ahead of Keith Biggerstaff and Gary
Blair. Notably, the top four finished in the same place as they started the race
and this trend would have continued down to sixth place if Ryan Magennis
hadn’t flown through from the sixth row of the grid to take fifth.
Minimax
championship leader Raymond Lusty had a bad day by his standards, allowing a
different name to appear at the top of the results. Scott Curran drove a
magnificent race in the difficult conditions to take his first every final
victory by a comfortable margin. Double heat winner Stuart Lyness came in second
behind Curran to move up to second place in the championship standings. Richard
McAlorum finished third with Jamie Glover not far away in fourth.
Junior TKM
Intermediate produced a very close race between championship contenders Edward
Jackson and Johnny Clyde.
Jackson
got past
Clyde
early on but the latter was in no mood
to give up the win without a fight, fighting back lap after lap. It was clear
that
Jackson
had the advantage at the top of the
circuit and
Clyde
had the advantage round the bottom.
Jackson
never gave way and took the victory to
close the gap to the top two in the championship battle.
Clyde
moved into the lead of the
championship due to his second place with the gap to Flynn in second overall
being only two points due the latter taking third in the rain-soaked race. Once
again there was a very small JTKM entry and Laura Taggart took another set of
maximum points to stay at the top in the championship standings.
Report: Stephen Rutherdale
Ulster Cup R5 - 24/05/03
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