Michael Gillian still leads Cup Class after disrupted Masters Superbike Championship at Mondello
Michael Gillan (Gillan Racing, Claremorris) still leads the Masters Superbike Cup Championship after a shortened race card at Mondello Park last weekend. Due to a number of incidents along with adverse weather conditions, rounds thirteen to fifteen were severely disrupted, with only two Supersport races were completed over the two days, while just one Superbike race took place.
Michael’s closest rival Andrew Murphy (Kawasaki ZR10R) took the ‘Cup’ class race Michael’s second place class allowing the Suzuki GSXR 1000 K6 racer to make a 5-point gap at the head of the championship, while Gary O’Brien (BMW S1000RR) picked up his first Masters Superbike ‘Cup’ podium in third place.
Following the Superbike race a number of riders from that class expressed their concerns about the track conditions and said that it was a mistake to run the race as the conditions were so poor, convinced the Clerk of the Course that the best course of action was to cancel the remainder of the event on safety grounds.
The Masters Superbike Championship continues in at Bishopscourt County Down with rounds sixteen and seventeen on Sunday 20 August.
Weekend Report from Michael Gillan:
“On Friday, I went to Mondello to test the bike and try out different suspension settings to see if I could bring down my lap times. From early on, I was going in the right direction as was setting my fastest lap times from race pace. This made me confident going into qualifying session.”
Qualifying
“The weather was changing all morning, and the session was wet but drying. I went out on the wet tyres and quickly adjusted to the conditions. Lap-by-lap I was getting more confident, but on lap nine was caught high-sided on turn 5, but luckily, not hurt and the bike undamaged, I had done enough to qualify second.”
Race Day: Saturday
“With ever changeable weather conditions and due to an accident in the Supersport/Superbike B Race, the rest of the day’s races were cancelled due to insufficient medical assistance at the circuit.”
Race Day: Sunday
“The weather was deteriorating as the day went on, I went out on the practice session in the morning not very confident but after a few laps I got my rhythm back and was soon up to race pace.”
“Thankfully, in the race itself I had a good start in the treacherous conditions and managed to follow Andrew Murphy for a few laps. He overtook overall Masters Superbike Championship leader Richie Ryan but I wasn’t taking any chances and settled for second place.”
“In the end, despite the shortened race schedule, I am leading the Cup Championship by 5 points ahead of Andrew Murphy. Hopefully, I can record a few wins and stay at the top of the championship. I would like to thank Lucy my partner, Adrian Kenny, Kiltimagh, for helping me in the bad weather conditions over the weekend, I would also like to thank www.irishmotorsportsnews.com, www.fleet.ie and Murphy Sandblasting Services Ballina for their continued support. All my racing updates can be seen on Facebook and on Twitter @GillanRacing.”
