No wins for Sheils or English but Adelaide Masters Series titles getting closer
Derek Sheils and Robert English both moved a step closer to becoming the Adelaide Masters series champions at Bishopscourt on Saturday August 15th despite failing to add to their impressive 2015 victory tally.
Sheils arrived in County Down with a 100% record in the Superbike Series but did not adapt as quickly as some of the other front runners to the fast Bishopscourt track and found himself down in fifth place at the end of race one. Top spot went to Ryan Rainey who took his first Masters win and the first in Ireland for the all new Yamaha R1. Rainey took the lead from the start and held off Nico Mawhinney who closed the gap towards the end of the race. The returning David Haire came home third despite tyre problems with his Ducati while Gerard Kinghan held off series leader Sheils for fourth.
With his tyre issues solved Haire held a strong lead at the end of lap one of the second Superbike race as a coming together between Mawhinney and Kinghan slowed the chasing pack. Kinghan continued but Mawhinney was out as he ran wide and ended up in the hairpin gravel trap. Series leader Sheils was again back in fifth but set about battling his way up into second which was the best he could achieve with Haire well up the road and running his fastest laps of the weekend. At the flag it was Haire from Sheils and Kinghan leaving Sheils with an almost unassailable championship lead over Kinghan as they head to the final three races at Mondello Park.
The Superbike Cup also saw the loss of a 100 % record as Edward Comerford was beaten twice by Alvin Griffin. Griffin won both races by a large margin with Comerford second and Masters newcomer Paul Demaine third. Despite losing his perfect score Comerford became the first rider to secure a 2015 Adelaide Masters title.
The Supersport racers for once had to play second fiddle to the Superbikes in terms of entertainment as their races were a little less frantic than what we have come to expect this season. Nikki Coates took pole for both races but despite his speed came away from Bishopscourt with nothing to show for his efforts. A fall in race one and disqualification from race two for racing under red flag conditions handed two race wins to Conor Parkhill which was enough to take the championship battle to the final event of the season.
Championship leader Robert English took two more podiums to creep towards his first Adelaide Masters crown and now needs just 14 points at the final event to secure the title. Jamie Patterson was back to form with two podiums finishing third behind Parkhill and English in race 1 and ahead of English in race two. The only Supersport Cup championship front runner to make the podium was Dean Fishbourne as he took second place in both races. Michael Rea was the Cup winner on both occasions with Daniel Annett taking third in race one and Darren Keys beating him to the podium in race 2. Fishbourne was handed a championship points boost after race 2 as Rea was stripped of his points for a Tyre rule infringement helping him to close the gap to series leader Gary O’Brien.
The final event of the season takes place on October 3rd and 4th on the Mondello Park International Track and with Haire already committing to continuing his participation at that event and the possibility of a fitter Cody Nally also joining in the Superbike finale should be one of the highlights of the season.
RESULTS
Superbike Race 1 – 8 Laps
1 Ryan RAINEY 09:10.42
2 Nico MAWHINNEY 09:10.85
3 David HAIRE 09:16.23
4 Gerard KINGHAN 09:16.48
5 Derek SHEILS 09:16.76
6 Cody NALLY 09:24.64
Superbike Race 2 – 8 Laps
1 David HAIRE 09:11.71
2 Derek SHEILS 09:14.72
3 Gerard KINGHAN 09:14.94
4 Ryan RAINEY 09:15.27
5 Peter MOLONEY 09:27.38
6 Thomas O’GRADY 09:27.81
Supersport Race 1 – 8 Laps
1 Conor PARKHILL 09:26.93
2 Robert ENGLISH 09:27.05
3 Jamie PATTERSON 09:27.32
4 Christian ELKIN 09:37.32
5 Aaron ARMSTRONG 09:37.51
6 Luke JOHNSTON 09:38.11
Supersport Race 2 – 5 Laps
1 Conor PARKHILL 05:54.95
2 Jamie PATTERSON 05:55.10
3 Robert ENGLISH 05:55.14
4 Aaron ARMSTRONG 05:55.45
5 Christian ELKIN 05:59.11
6 Michael REA 06:05.04
