Cummins is Duke rankings winner
Friday 21 September 2007
TT
One of the stars of the Centenary TT has secured the Geoff Duke Trophy as winner of the Duke Road Race Rankings.
Manxman Conor Cummins, who secured a fifth, two sixths and an eighth place at TT, secured the top position without turning a wheel in the final round.
With a commanding lead in the series, Cummins decided to sit out the final round - the 57th Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup Races. It must have been a nail-biting weekend for the 21- year-old star as he waited to see if second-placed Guy Martin could do enough to overhaul his lead.
Guy, who secured three podium finishes at the Centenary TT, and his Hydrex Honda were almost unbeatable at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough. He re-wrote the record books, but it wasn’t enough to beat Conor’s Duke Road Race Rankings lead.
Guy had to settle for second place, 138 points behind, but 281 points ahead of third placed William Dunlop. It is a remarkable feat by Conor, of Ramsey, in only his first full year of pure road racing.
Duke Video managing director Peter Duke offered his congratulations to Conor.
‘What a fantastic result for the Isle of Man, and for road racing in general, to have Conor with the Geoff Duke Trophy in only his first full year in pure road racing.’
‘He has always shown great promise on both short and road circuits, but to be number one with such consistency, maturity and sheer speed against top opposition tells us we have a real star in the making here.’
‘May I offer my congratulations and thanks to all the road racers who took part, and the thousands of people involved in organising, running and marshalling a cracking season of racing.’
There was some consolation for Kirmington rider Guy at the final round of the series – he became only the third rider in the 57 year history of the prestigious Gold Cup meeting to win the race five times, joining legends Geoff Duke and David Jefferies with five victories.
However, Guy is the first to win the races in successive years, starting in 2003.
He also upped the absolute lap record for the 2.43-mile Oliver’s Mount course during the feature race to 82.886mph. During the two-day meeting, he also won the David Jefferies 600cc Trophy race, won both Superbike races and finished third in the Darran Lindsay 600cc Trophy race.
He said:
'It has been a great weekend, with everything falling into place, especially lifting the Gold Cup again for the fifth time and setting a new absolute lap record. My only disappointment is missing out on the Duke Rankings title, but there’s next year to go one better, hopefully.’
Three-times Geoff Duke Trophy winner Ian Lougher, who finished fourth in this year’s Duke Road Race Rankings, took victory in the Darran Lindsay 600cc Trophy race and the 250cc Lee Pullan race.
Chris Palmer, fifth in the final Duke rankings, claimed all three 125cc races and received the Stu Reed Trophy, while Mick Goodings scored a double in the 400cc races. John McGuinness, having a rare outing on the ‘pukka’ 250, took the chequered flag in the 250cc Phil Mellor Trophy race.
Goodings’ result saw him climb in the Duke Road Race Rankings by five places to 17th, while McGuinness moved up two to finish the series in sixth position. Ryan Farquhar also moved up three places, to eighth.
Highest mover overall after the Gold Cup meeting was Peter Wakefield, who advanced 29 positions to 35th. He was followed by Dwyer Agnew, who moved up 16 places to 42nd. Five competitors ‘broke’ the 100 points barrier to join the top 78, they were: Alex Hutchings, Ian Armstrong, Paul Owen, John Barton, Tony Flinton and Phil Harvey.
Seventh place went to Cameron Donald, ninth to Darren Burns and 10th to Ivan Lintin, making his debut on the roads this year.