Post by frostythesnowman on Jul 23, 2007 13:44:48 GMT 1
Portaferry 3 Day Stage Road Race
The Portaferry Road Race on the scenic Ards Peninsula with a hotly contested 3-day 4-stage race promoted by Ards CC. Two riders dominated the proceedings, winning three of the four stages with Monahan’s Conor Murphy (Usher – Irish Road Club) taking the overall honours.
Friday evenings opening stage took place at the Kirkistown motor racing circuit, where Newtownards man Adam Armstrong (Northern CC-Dave Kane), proved he had the biggest engine, crossing the line alone with 29 seconds to spare over his chasers, led by Crumlins Matt Ward (Usher – Irish Road Club) who took second ahead of former National Champion David McCann (Colevitia-Sutter Home), making a flying visit home from his base in the States.
Eight riders had broken clear on the stage, building up an advantage of almost two minutes, effectively making them the only riders in contention for the overall spoils.
Saturday’s 55 mile stage was also a lively affair, with a break of four riders going clear virtually from the stage start. John Neill (Phoenix CC) Gerry Heverin (Castlereagh CC) Davy McKnight (Dromara CC) and Southern visitor Padraig Marrey (Murphy & Gunn) set about carving out a useful lead over the 6 laps of a 9 mile circuit. At the end of lap three their lead peaked at around two minutes, and on the 4th circuit the reaction came, with Glen Kinning (Castlereagh CC) and Matt Ward (Usher IRC) attacking from the bunch. Heverin was dropped from the break, Kinning also dropped back and Wards team mate Conor Murphy joined him and the Usher pair set about catching the leaders.
At the start of the final lap the five leaders had a 1-minute 20-second advantage, and at the line back in Portaferry it was Dubliner Marrey who took the honours ahead of Murphy with John Neill third and Dromara CC rider David McKnight fourth. The promoting clubs Brendan Kirk led the bunch home for 6th place over a minute later, with Monahan’s Conor Murphy taking over the race leaders Yellow Jersey.
Saturday afternoons 2 mile time trial went to Armstrong his winning time of 4.39 was 5 seconds quicker than Murphy, with Marrey taking third and Glen Kinning (Castlereagh CC-Mattest) 4th.That left Murphy with a 29 second advantage going in to the final stage, with team-mate Matt Ward in second and Armstrong trailing by 58 seconds.
The final stage, despite being only 36 miles long, saw the two strong men at the head of affairs, with Murphy & Armstrong attacking on the opening lap and building up a massive 3minutes 40 second advantage by lap 4 of six. The pair comfortably stayed away to the finish, with Murphy taking the stage and the overall race honours. Glen Kinning led the remainder of the field home almost four minutes adrift.
Overall it was a the weekend was a great sucess with the Dromara riders finishing third in the hotly contested team competition, beating some much larger clubs.
Final Dromara positions were. David McKinght 8th, Ronnie Smyth 11th [First 3rd Cat], Darren Weir 23rd and John Cieslik 26th.
The Portaferry Road Race on the scenic Ards Peninsula with a hotly contested 3-day 4-stage race promoted by Ards CC. Two riders dominated the proceedings, winning three of the four stages with Monahan’s Conor Murphy (Usher – Irish Road Club) taking the overall honours.
Friday evenings opening stage took place at the Kirkistown motor racing circuit, where Newtownards man Adam Armstrong (Northern CC-Dave Kane), proved he had the biggest engine, crossing the line alone with 29 seconds to spare over his chasers, led by Crumlins Matt Ward (Usher – Irish Road Club) who took second ahead of former National Champion David McCann (Colevitia-Sutter Home), making a flying visit home from his base in the States.
Eight riders had broken clear on the stage, building up an advantage of almost two minutes, effectively making them the only riders in contention for the overall spoils.
Saturday’s 55 mile stage was also a lively affair, with a break of four riders going clear virtually from the stage start. John Neill (Phoenix CC) Gerry Heverin (Castlereagh CC) Davy McKnight (Dromara CC) and Southern visitor Padraig Marrey (Murphy & Gunn) set about carving out a useful lead over the 6 laps of a 9 mile circuit. At the end of lap three their lead peaked at around two minutes, and on the 4th circuit the reaction came, with Glen Kinning (Castlereagh CC) and Matt Ward (Usher IRC) attacking from the bunch. Heverin was dropped from the break, Kinning also dropped back and Wards team mate Conor Murphy joined him and the Usher pair set about catching the leaders.
At the start of the final lap the five leaders had a 1-minute 20-second advantage, and at the line back in Portaferry it was Dubliner Marrey who took the honours ahead of Murphy with John Neill third and Dromara CC rider David McKnight fourth. The promoting clubs Brendan Kirk led the bunch home for 6th place over a minute later, with Monahan’s Conor Murphy taking over the race leaders Yellow Jersey.
Saturday afternoons 2 mile time trial went to Armstrong his winning time of 4.39 was 5 seconds quicker than Murphy, with Marrey taking third and Glen Kinning (Castlereagh CC-Mattest) 4th.That left Murphy with a 29 second advantage going in to the final stage, with team-mate Matt Ward in second and Armstrong trailing by 58 seconds.
The final stage, despite being only 36 miles long, saw the two strong men at the head of affairs, with Murphy & Armstrong attacking on the opening lap and building up a massive 3minutes 40 second advantage by lap 4 of six. The pair comfortably stayed away to the finish, with Murphy taking the stage and the overall race honours. Glen Kinning led the remainder of the field home almost four minutes adrift.
Overall it was a the weekend was a great sucess with the Dromara riders finishing third in the hotly contested team competition, beating some much larger clubs.
Final Dromara positions were. David McKinght 8th, Ronnie Smyth 11th [First 3rd Cat], Darren Weir 23rd and John Cieslik 26th.
