Conor claims first home victory
Manxman Conor Cummins, one of the stars of the Centenary TT races, was the ‘local hero’ at the Steam Packet National Road Races, held on the Billown Course on the outskirts of Castletown.
The event, which brought the Centenary TT Festival to a close, was the sixth round of the 2007 Duke Road Race Rankings Championship.
Ramsey man Cummins opened his account with runner-up position in the first race of the day, the combined 250cc / 600cc race, coming home four seconds behind Ian Lougher, with Adrian McFarland filling third spot.
In the 250cc category, William Dunlop took the chequered flag, one second ahead of Chris Palmer, as Davy Morgan claimed third place.
In the second of the day's three races, another combined event, this time for 125cc and 400cc Supersport machines, Palmer crossed the line first to take victory followed by Robert Dunlop and Lougher, while in the 400 class the first three were New Zealander Paul Dobbs, Mark Parrett and Dave Madsen-Mygdal.
But it was the feature race of the event that brought the massive crowd on its toes as Cummins took the initiative and led at the end of the opening lap of nine by 0.295 of a second from veteran Lougher, with fellow ‘vets’ Palmer and Paul Cranston in hot pursuit.
By lap three the gap had extended to 2.5 seconds as the express train continued its way around the 4.25-mile closed public road course. At two-thirds distance the lead had stretched to 6.8 seconds, but now over Palmer, not Lougher.
A lap later the distance between the first two had been closed to 2.29 seconds, when the young Cummins received a wake-up call and at the end of the penultimate lap the lead had increased to 4.52 seconds and at the chequered flag the difference was 7.16 seconds, with Lougher crossing the line to take third place
With the first three in the rankings, John McGuinness, Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey relaxing after their TT efforts, the main protagonists at the sixth round of the series, were able to make an impression on the Rankings Table. There are no less than seven new entries in the top 30 - Palmer enters in 10th position with McFarland 20th, Parrett 21st, Cranston 25th, Barry Davidson 26th, Davy Morgan 27th and Dobbs 30th.
Feature race winner Cummins moved up from sixth to fourth, as Lougher advanced three from ninth to sixth. The highest mover was William Dunlop, slotting into 14th from his previous 20th position.