Gold Cup Sunday 20th September
Clear blue skies greeted everyone at Oliver’s Mount for the second days racing at the 59th Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup.
Practice was completed in bright sunshine and the first of the day’s races got underway at 12.30 an hour later than planned, due the vast queues of enthusiasts waiting to enter the Mount. The lunch break was taken early to allow the change in the schedule.
The opening event of the day was the Solo Non Finalists race run over eight laps of the 2.43-mile hillside course.
Richard Gibson got the hole-shot and held it into Mere Hairpin. A lead he held for the full lap from Paul Owen and David Bell.
Lap two and Gibbo had increased his advantage to 4.596 seconds, and further increased it on lap three to over 5 seconds.
Positions remained the same on the half-distance circuit, then on the fifth lap Gibson retired with machine problems letting Welshman Paul Owen into first place, with Bell now second and Daryl Campling third, which is how the race finished. Owen’s advantage 18.681 seconds.
The next race was the second leg of the 125cc Stu Reed Trophy. A six lap race long duel between William Dunlop and Ian Lougher, with William leading for the first half of the race, Ian taking over on the fourth lap and still leading at the end of the fifth, but was beaten to the chequered flag by 0.268 of a second by William Dunlop. Third throughout was Lee Vernon.
Race three of Sunday was the second leg of the Darran Lindsay Trophy. Guy Martin was a surprise non starter.
Ryan Farquhar got the hole-shot and held it around Mere Hairpin, but it was Michael Pearson who headed the field across the line at then of the first lap of eight. Farquhar was second and Hankin third.
Pearson a 6/10ths of a second advantage at the end of the second lap. Hutchinson moved into third on the fourth lap demoting Hankin to fourth place.
Hutchy was up to second on the fifth circuit only 0.10 of a second behind the leader.
The distance between the leading two was even less at the end of the three-quarter distance lap.
Hutchy had the lead by 1.1 seconds on the seventh and penultimate lap and took the chequered flag by 3.6 seconds from Michael Pearson and Ryan Farquhar.
Kiaran Hankin, Gary Johnson and Michael Dunlop completed the leader board.
Next up was the second leg of the combined 400’s and MiniTwins race again over eight laps.
From the change of the lights, it looked as though it was going to be a repeat of the first leg, with Daniel Frear leading the smaller class and Ryan Farquhar the latter class, but for only one lap as next down round Ryan pulled in to retire, letting David Bell into the lead in the MiniTwins.
Daniel Frear went on to take the chequered flag by over 11 seconds from MiniTwins winner David Bell, with Alex Hutchinson third overall.
The chairs were next for their first outing of the day in the second leg of the F2 race over six laps.
At the end of the first lap it was Tony Elmer holding off Tim Reeves by just over one second, with Conrad Harrison third.
Reeves pulled in half a second on the second lap. It was down to 0.3 of a second next time round and the fourth lap saw another one tenth of a second shaved off Elmer’s lead.
Elmer pulled back a tenth of a second on the penultimate lap. At the all important chequered flag it was Tony Elmer and Darren Marshall by 0.733 of a second.
Tim Reeves and Dip Chauhan were second 6 seconds in front of Conrad Harrison and Lee Patterson.
Race 17, the second leg of the 600 David Jefferies Cup. Michael Pearson led at the end of the opening lap of eight, by 0.238 of a second from Ian Lougher, with Ian Hutchinson in third spot.
Lap two Lougher was leading the high-speed pack, by 0.420 of a second from Pearson and Hutchinson.
Pearson slipped off his machine on the third lap, as Lougher enjoyed a 2.177 second lead over Hutchy and Guy Martin in third.
Half distance and a further second had been added to Lougher’s advantage at the front. Lougher breaking the lap record in the process.
Lap five, and the gap was up to six seconds as the first six remained in station.
Three quarters race distance and the lead was over seven seconds and lapping at over 81mph.
Hutchy was losing the tow as the gap was up to 8 seconds at the end of the penultimate lap.
Ian Lougher took the victory by 6.656 seconds from Ian Hutchinson, Guy Martin, Daniel Frear, John McGuinness and Michael Dunlop.
The 250 Lee Pullan race was next on the schedule, and it was that man Lougher again who headed the field at the end of the opening lap of eight, from William Dunlop and Lee Vernon. Then out came the red flag to put a stop to proceedings.
The restart, over six laps, saw Lee Vernon grab the hole-shot ahead of Alex Hutchinson and Ian Lougher.
But it was Lougher soon in his familiar spot, being chased by William Dunlop and Lee Vernon.
The lead was up to half a second at the end of the second lap, then down to 0.360 of a second at the new mid-distance circuit. The only movement was Davy Morgan climbing in to seventh position.
Lap four and the gap was up to 0.610 of a second. The fifth lap saw the lead halved to 0.311 of a second, with Lee Vernon having a lonely ride in third 14 seconds back.
William Dunlop took the chequered flag by 0.228 of a second to deprive Ian Lougher of his 127th race victory at Oliver’s Mount. Lee Vernon was third, John McGuinness fourth, Alex Hutchinson fifth and David Guiney sixth.
Next up was the Steve Henshaw Gold Cup, the feature race of the meeting.
Guy Martin was first into Mere Hairpin, followed by Ryan Farquhar.
End of lap one of ten, it was Guy Martin, Ryan Farquhar, Ian Hutchinson, Michael Pearson, Gary Johnson and Ian Lougher.
Lap two and Martin was ahead by 0.275 of a second from Farquhar and Pearson.
Lap three and the red flags were shown again. Ryan Farquhar was clipped by Michael Pearson.
The restart over eight laps had Michael Pearson missing from the grid, having hurt his ankle in the incident with his fellow countryman.
Farquhar got the hole-shot, but it was Martin who was first into Mere Hairpin.
At the end of the opening lap it was Martin, Farquhar, Hutchy, Lougher, Johnson, and Mick Goodings. The gap was 0.402 of a second, as Michael Dunlop pulled in to retire with engine problems.
Lap two, and the lead was down to 0.295 of a second, but it was Hutchy now second with Farquhar third. Then Lougher, Johnson and Steve Mercer.
Lougher was in third place at the end of the third lap of eight as Martin increased his lead to just under half a second.
Half distance and the advantage to the Hydrex Honda man was 0.444 of a second, as positions remained the same.
Lap five and the lead had increased to 0.491 of a second as Ryan retired the Kawasaki with a loose clip-on.
Gary Johnson moved into fourth, Steve Mercer fifth and Ryan was sixth before retiring.
Guy broke the lap record on the sixth lap raising the speed to 83.286mph, with a lead of 0.556 of a second over the two Ian’s: Hutchinson and Lougher.
The penultimate lap saw a reduced lead of 0.396 of a second to Martin from Hutchy with Lougher now a lonely 9 seconds down on the second placeman.
The chequered was shown to Guy Martin for the seventh successive year, 0.430 of a second ahead of Ian Hutchinson, with Ian Lougher, third. Gary Johnson, Steve Mercer and Adrian Archibald completed the leader board.
The penultimate race of the 2009 Steve Henshaw Gold Cup saw the third and final leg of the 125cc Stu Reed Trophy over six laps.
Ian Lougher was in pole, but it was Lee Vernon who got the hole-shot, but not for long as Lougher was first into the Hairpin. Vernon turned into the paddock to retire.
Again it was the Lougher, Dunlop duo at the front, with Wakefield third at the end of the opening lap.
Lap two and the gap was 0.403 of a second, as placing remained static. Mid distance lap saw the gap double to 0.844 of a second, as Wakefield remained third some 22 seconds down on the leading pair.
Lap four and 6/10ths of a second was shaved off the leader’s advantage, as William closed the difference to 0.299 of a second.
Lap five and Lougher pulled out a tenth of a second on his younger rival.
At the chequered flag, William did it again, taking the chequered flag for the third time from Ian Lougher.
Peter Wakefield finished third 46 seconds down.
The final race of the meeting, the third leg of the Sidecars, which saw Tim Reeves get the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin. And held the lead throughout the six lap race to record his first victory at Oliver’s Mount.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dgA53uCd4U