Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing Season: Faugheen 50
The weekend of the 15th of August we were going to the last race of our road racing season. There was another one in Killalane (north of Dublin) in September but we had a wedding in Asturias…
So on Friday we left at about 5.30pm to county Tipperary, at about 1h30 from home, the closest road race of the season. We stayed in a B&B at some 12km from the circuit. As I thought that Juan would go out of work late I had prepared sandwiches. But we arrived at 7.00pm, so after a tea/coffee in the B&B we went out to look for a place to eat our sandwiches.
We were at about 30km from Kilkenny, we thought of going there first, but we finally turned at some cross road before, stopped in a village to buy some drinks and went on. At the end of the village, three Asian people were hitchhiking. We stopped to ask where they were going to and they said “at 5 minutes” drive, so there we went. They were from South Korea, volunteering in the village (I think with elderly people but I’m not quite sure about it). After a while we left them at their accommodation. One of the girls told us that we could go to “Kells”, so when we saw the signs indicating Kells, we followed them and we arrived to a place with a carpark, some picnic tables and a view to a rampart and towers of what used to be a priory. We ate our sandwiches with the last sun rays and then we went for a walk around the ruins.
Then we went back to the B&B to rest.
In the morning we left after a good Irish Breakfast, we stopped in Carrick-on-Suir to buy some water and went to Faugheen village.
We parked in the first carpark we found and asked for the shortest way to walk to the paddock. The circuit is kind of a triangle and the paddock was right on the opposite side of where we parked, so about the same distance from one way or the other.
So we got to the paddock to see the bikes and the riders who had already arrived and we bought some essential stuffs for next year road races: a giant Suzuki umbrella and a hat each (Suzuki for me and Honda for Juan of course). I always wondered why we saw so many racers with hats (instead of baseball caps) on TV when they were interviewed. After a few races I understood, it’s just sooooo cold! So now we are prepared for next year 🙂 .
As we didn’t see any good place for photography on our way to the paddock, we went on around the circuit (2.2miles = 3.5km); and we stopped at the next corner “Creamery corner” and settled there. It was still early so that we had some rest in the sun.
At noon they closed the roads and started with the practice and qualifying sessions. They started with some laps for the “Newcomers”, the ones who never raced on that track so they can learn the track.
“Creamery corner” must be a difficult corner because many went straight (in all sessions). All practice sessions started with one or 2 laps leaded by a “Marshall” and with another Marshal and the doctor at the end of the group. Before every race the next day there were also 2 warm-up laps in the same conditions.
We spent all the practice sessions taking pictures…
Robert McCrum
Paul Jordan
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop
Derek Mc Gee
Paul O Rourke gives a lift to Derek McGee after his Kawa ER650 stopped after the first warmup lap during Supertwin practice
Seamus Elliott
Brian Coomey
Dario Cecconi
John O Donovan
Sean Leonard
Brian McCormack
John Walsh
Once the practice sessions finished they ran 2 races: Open 201-1010cc (non championship) and Support 401-750cc (non championship). The last one was stopped after an accident but the rider was back on track for racing the next day.
After a while without too much information they announced the classification, informed about the rider and opened the roads. We went back to the carpark and went to Carrick-on-Suir to have dinner and back to the B&B for resting.
The next morning we went back to Carrick-on-Suir to buy some things to prepare sandwiches as we had seen no fish&chips trucks around the circuits except in the paddock. The races had been about to be cancelled as 15 days before they had not enough racers registered to run the event. Fortunately after a call through social media and between riders they got more entries and some riders registered in more categories (for example William Dunlop brought his 125 with which he doesn’t usually race anymore. Though at last he couldn’t race with it for a mechanical problem).
We parked in the same carpark after going to the paddock to buy some tee-shirts for supporting the club.
And we went to the field on the left side of “Gubb Cross” corner, where they had settled 2 open trucks trailers to see the circuit over the hedges.
We got in one of the trailers where there was a good view to the circuit on the left and to the corner on the right, where we would witness many anthology braking, crazy overtaking and also some “too late” braking (with no dangerous consequences. Only one rider had the doctor stopping and he went back to the paddock as the doctor’s pillion lol).
Before the road closing we made friend with a man who arrived at the same time and with whom we chatted of many things while waiting. We used for the first time our umbrella with a short shower though we were quite well sheltered in the trailer. Then a couple arrived, who were friends of the man, and also very nice people and we spent a good day chatting and also laughing a lot because we never knew which race was on as the order was changed compared to the program and we were mistaken with the 2 races that had been ran the previous day, so it was a little confusing… Anyway, it was still very pleasant and exciting to spend the whole day watching the 11 races, with no incident and no rain.
There were two “breaks” with laps done by a rally car from the 70s spinning in each corner of the circuit.
The 600 race, the “Support 201-400cc Championship” and the final race were just heart-stopping, with crazy braking and overtaking at that corner (if you see the corner you won’t believe you can actually overtake there…).
Derek Sheils won the “Grand Final” (and one of the Superbike race) in spite of having missed the qualifying session on Saturday as he was racing at the Masters Series in Bishopcourt (Northern Ireland).
John Walsh
Once again we had a very nice day. On Sunday we took very few pics but we enjoyed the races at most.
After saying goodbye to our 3 new friends until next year, we went back home.
We saw fabulous racing, very well organised, there was no rain and no incident. But I used my hat for the first time and I didn’t take it out in all the day. One of our neighbours told me that he had been living in Ireland for 65 years and he was still not used to the weather… So I still have some margin to get used to it LOL.
We end up the 2015 Road Racing season on a very good note, long will be the wait until April 2016…
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing season: Armoy
At the end of July it was time for our “pilgrimage” to Armoy, the Road Race where we had been to during our honeymoon trip (report here). Armoy is in Northern Ireland, about 500km from where we live (on the opposite side of it. In Ireland if you do more tan 600km from South to North it’s because you ended up into the sea…lol).
We had taken some days off so that we could enjoy the event at its most.
We arrived on Thursday 23rd of July, in the afternoon. After a tea/coffee with scones with butter and jam shared with the B&B nice landlady and two other guests, we went to Armoy where we arrived just in time for the bike lap with classic bikes (and not so classic ones). We bought a good lot of merchandising (after 3 races this year we understood that it’s no use buying tee-shirts of the road races because YOU NEVER SEE THEM, it’s so cold that we always have one or two layers above them. So that I bought a hoodie… Next time I might buy a polar jacket ;D ), then we had some dinner and went to the paddock where there was the “Miss Armoy 2015” celebration. We wanted to see some people of the club organising who had been so friendly 2 years ago. And there they were. We had a good chat with them, they were happy to see us again (they thought we would never come back, they didn’t know us! Lol ).
Some riders were also attending the event, having a drink, as Michael Dunlop; while others were part of the election jury (Michal Dokoupil and Sam Dunlop). A nice and pleasant family atmosphere.
After the election we went back to the B&B and stayed a while chatting with 3 Scottish bikers, one race marshal (the woman who counts the laps and waves the chequered flag) and her daughter who were all staying there, and also the landlady.
Friday was Practice day. The organisers had advised us to go to “Lagge Jump” to take jumps pics. There you have to arrive early because there is few space for many photographers…
The bad thing is that there is no close place for eating and drinking, but as other times the Irish Breakfast lasted most of the day and we had some snacks and water. Next time we’ll come better prepared, we look like newcomers!
There we spent all day taking many pics of the jumps. The speed in that straight line (with jumps) is just amazing. I have no word to describe it. A guy, Mark, joined us, and we chatted for a good while. At one point he told me “I don’t know if you look scared or if you look Wow”, but I wouldn’t know either. I have no word. Those men (and a few women) are just impressive, to go at that speed on THOSE roads, which are so narrow, with bumps and whatever, and where any small mistake can have a high cost… Respect!
Traveling Marshal
Doctor Fred Mc Sorley
Michal Dokoupil & Conor Behan
Guy Martin, William Dunlop, Dean Harrison
Christian Elkin & Callum Laidlaw
Andy Farrell & Jeremy Mc Williams
Dean Harrison
Keith Amor
Guy Martin
Stephen Mc Knight & Andy Lawson
Ryan Farquhar
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop & Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
Seamus Elliott
Derek Mc Gee
Davy Morgan
Stephen Casey & Brendan Merrigan 
Michael Dunlop
The evening ended with the first race, Supersport (600). It was an amazing one. William Dunlop won it, followed buy Guy Martin and Dean Harrison.
After the race we went back to the paddock to have dinner, and the fact is that Mark is a friend and in the team of Andy Farrell #96. He invited us to come to their camp place after dinner. So there we went although we don’t like to be like “groupies” (we are too old now lol)… We spent quite a good time with Andy and his team, all very nice people. He showed us his bikes (he participates with 1 Supertwin and one 600 with which he runs several races, but he had one broken bearing gear on the 600 and had no spare part, so next day he could only race with the Supertwin).
He showed us an onboard video of an Isle of Man lap (last year Manx GP), with the comments on each reference point for each corner and circuit element (Isle of Man circuit is 60km…). Amazing.
He also told us that he had no motorbike license because it was too dangerous to ride on open roads… 8O.
This reminded me of an interview of Mrs. Dunlop, widow of the late Robert and mother of 2 of the best racers now Michael and William, who was happy that they would “only” race on closed roads because it was too dangerous riding on open roads…
But they are riding at 300km/h on those narrow roads!!!
Well I suppose that these people can’t go slowly on a bike 😉 and that they don’t even know that we actually CAN go slowly on a bike, enjoying the views and those things that some weirdos are doing when we ride a bike LOL.
He told us that when he was riding his bike that fast is when he really felt alive.
This energy they feel I think that’s what they pass on to the public. Their adrenalin is transmittable like. We can see them happy, fully enjoying.
It’s a very dangerous sport but all are quite conscious of the risks and have them assumed.
Some spend some time with doubts about going on after an accident or the loss of a close friend, but most of them finally come back. After an accident most just want to recover as soon as possible to race again.
It looks like it’s stronger than reason, something deep inside, and addictive as a drug.
Well, the chat was very pleasant and interesting. Most of the racers (including the most famous) are quite accessible on those small races where they don’t have so much pressure from the teams and sponsors.
Andy Farrell is #5 in the Irish Championship in Supertwin, #12 in Supersport, #13 in Superbike.
The next day we woke up very (too) early to take our seat in Acheson’s Leap, as 2 years ago. We forgot that in Ireland people enjoy the Friday nights in the pubs and they don’t get up early. We could have saved hour and a half of waiting, with 2 showers…
When we arrived the catering trucks had not even arrived, we were the only ones with the organisers LOL.
At last the catering trucks arrived and Juan went for our breakfast…
There was no more rain in all the day, but we are not used to those temperatures. We were wearing a tee-shirt, a hoodie and a polar jacket, and when the sun was hiding behind a cloud we would lose 10 °C and we were freezing.
At last the roads closed and the day started with a very moving speech from Dr. Fred, who was working with Doc John who sadly passed away in July, followed by a minute of silence respected all around the circuit. A really moving moment.
Then the races started and didn’t stop until completing the 11 races of the day.
Amazing Derek Mc Gee
Andy Lawson, 24 year old and newcomer in Armoy and other road races this year, sadly passed away in an accident in Ulster GP on 8th of August. This sport can be so cruel sometimes. RIP.
William Dunlop
Dean Harrison
Ryan Farquhar
Michael Dunlop
Women Power 😉 : Veronika Hancocyova
Women Power 😉 : Yvonne Montgomery
Women Power 😉 : Sarah Boyes
Michal Dokoupil
Andy Farrell
Michael Dunlop, after winning the last race “Race of Legends”
My favourite races are the Supertwin ones, because the bikes are more even in preparation, there are usually many overtaking and they have such a beautiful sound 🙂 (and nothing to do with the fact that I own a SV650, mine doesn’t sound like that and is certainly not going that fast lol).
We saw many good races all day long. As usual Juan ended up chatting with our “wall neighbours”, which makes more pleasant the “time-outs”.
Unfortunately there were 2 incidents (and 6 red flags), with one helicopter evacuation. But both racers are back home one week later.
Once again we could enjoy a full day of great racing with a very good organisation.
At the end of the race we went to the paddock (already half empty) to say goodbye to the #96 team, and then we went to Ballycastle, a nice sea resort, to have some dinner as we had enough hamburgers for a while… at last we finally enjoyed the sunset in front of the sea, with 2 pizzas… LOL
We went back to the B&B and to bed after a short chat about the day with the 3 Scottish guys.
The next day we got up with no rush and left for home after a quiet breakfast and saying goodbye to our nice landlady.
Next race in 2 weeks… To be continued…
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing Season: Walderstown
On 12th of July we went to our second road race, also in Republic of Ireland. This was not quite planned and we could not go for Saturday practice. The race was in Walderstown, a small village close to Athlone and Mullingar, not too far from Kells race where we went in June.
As we arrived on the same day of the races, we had no time to go around the circuit and find the best place for pictures. In spite of waking up very early we arrived just before the roads closed, and very hungry, so we first went to the paddock…
This was the first race since Doctor John Hinds passed away. “Doc John” was a great doctor anaesthetist, who apart from his job, dedicated his free time to make road racing safer. Together with the medical team and another doctor in Ireland, he saved the lives of many riders.
He also shared his medical experience with other doctors around the world, to save more lives, not only in road racing.
Doc John sadly passed away in an accident while following a group of racers during practice in Skerries (close to Dublin) at the beginning of July.
So the racing day started with a lap in his memory and honour, leaded by the medical staff and marshals. A very nice and moving homage just a few days after the funeral. All my respect for all the people who spend their free time to make this dangerous sport as safe as possible.
After the honour lap and a minute of silence fairly respected all around the circuit, the races started.
We first were on the straight line just before the paddock, with the view on the previous corner and a good point to see many wheelies.
William Dunlop
Derek Sheils
Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
We then moved to the previous corner for the next race. There was a good viewpoint for pictures from the outside part of the corner.
The day and the races went on without any incident. There was a short shower during the Classics race (poor lads), but we were in the paddock and got shelter under a big tree.
Then we moved down the straight line of the paddock. The next corner was probably the best of the circuit and was packed with people and there was not a free space to watch (though we know where to go next year). So we went back to the straight line. There we can see the pilots arrive fairly quickly, not too good for us to take pictures, but quite good to watch the races and see some nice overtaking.
We finished the day there. It seemed short to us in spite of the 10 races!
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 road racing season: Kells
Our 2015 season started later than planned. We wanted to go to the Northwest200 in May but at that time Juan was out for work, and I just wished I could have gone as I was stuck at home in rainy Ireland while Juan wished the same but from some Californian beach 😀 .
In June at last we could go to our first road race of the season.
It was in Kells, in Republic of Ireland and it was practical because the race was on Sunday (and practice on Saturday) while all of Northern Ireland are on Saturdays (with practice on Fridays). This gave us time to arrive on Saturday, get to know the area and find the best place to watch the races.
Kells road races are run on a road that goes out of Crossakiel village and makes like a triangle.
We left home on Saturday morning at about 9.00am and after we got lost for a while (the GPS had not charged correctly during the night), we arrived to the hotel where we stayed at about 1.00pm. We had some lunch in the pub restaurant and after leaving our cases in the bedroom, we finally went to the circuit, at about 15km through very narrow and bumpy roads. We found the circuit, parked the bike and went to the first corner from the village. The road was already closed so we couldn’t ride around the circuit anymore.
We stayed in that corner and took pictures of the practice for classics, Supersport, Superbike, 125, Supertwins, etc…
Paul Jordan
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop
Juan had a long chat with another fan who told us where to go the next day to take nice pictures, and who also advised us that we had to go to Skerries and Killalane road races (North of Dublin) in July and September respectively.
After the practice we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and the hotel owner advised us to go to a castle 1km away. So there we went. The garden was just amazing, and the castle very nice. That’s funny that it looked much like a Playmobil castle, I don’t know if they got their inspiration from Irish castles…
The night was not so funny though as they started with a concert in the pub below the room at 11pm, just when we decided to sleep, and the music was quite loud and not as we like either… and we couldn’t rest until it stopped at last at 1.30am…
After a short resting night, we left early to have breakfast in Crossakiel (a full Irish Breakfast so that we get to the end of the races without eating) and get to the sighting place early. We left the bike (no organised car park for the bikes) and went to “Dromad Hire” corner, on the other side of the circuit. The bad thing was that there was no food/drink selling point in that field, it was on the next corner, and there was few time between the races to move. So we just stayed there, with our just eaten Irish breakfast, a bottle of water and some cereals bars for Juan…
The races went by, very exciting. We were taking turn to take pictures 😉 . We were very close to the riders, so much that at the beginning I was a little scared. Though we were on the inside part of the corner, so after a while I enjoyed it very much.
William Dunlop
Sam Wilson
Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
Paul Jordan
There was an incident in one of the races that required the doctors, ambulance and then helicopter intervention. The rider, Ian Morrell was swiftly attended and is now safe and recovering from his injuries.
After the break (everything was very well organised, Cheers to all the organisers, marshals and Medical Team who saved his life in the first minutes), the race started again, followed by the rest of them Supertwin, Junior Support (one won by the Czech woman Veronika Hancocyová), Superstock, and Superbike (the “Grand Final”)… It finished at about 4pm.
Traveling Marshal
Traveling Doctor John – RIP
Stephen Morrison
John Ella
Craig Gibson
Sean O’Neil
Alan Bonner
Derek Mc Gee
Parade Lap
Barry Sheehan
Veronika Hancocyova
Paul Jordan
William Dunlop
Michal Dokoupil
Derek Mc Gee
Alan Bonner
Derek Mc Gee & Alan Bonner
After a full racing day, we went back to the village to have lunch/dinner, and then we went back to Cork, some 250km, this time through Dublin (with GPS functioning this time) and we got rain for about 150km… I think we broke a record of lasting rain (not of intensity though…).
At last we arrived home, wet, tired but happy, and with some 900 pics to sort out…
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Ride outs
An entertaining month of June
The month of June did not start quite well, with Monday 1st as Bank Holiday but with pouring rain all day.
Luckily it was probably the last remains of winter, and the rest of the month looked more like spring.
On the first Sunday we met with a group of bikers Juan had met in a filling station one hour after getting out of the ferry in March, and with whom he had gone for a spin in April around the “Ring of Kerry” before I arrived.
We first met Jim from Cork, and picked up another guy on our way to Limerick, where we would meet with the rest of the group.
We had a nice Irish Breakfast in a pub while we were waiting for the others to arrive.
In total we were about 12 bikes. Apart from ours, one Deauville and one VFR800, all the others were BMW GS… All are people who travel quite a lot, with at least one 10 days trip to the continent every summer. There was another woman rider, with a lowered GS, I got on her bike that happened to be really comfortable… but I wouldn’t change mine for it.
We then started the ride through narrow roads on the hills over Limerick. The roads were good for the GS, but not so good for ours. Some looked more like tarmac pathway (with weeds in the middle, bramble on the sides, and room for only one car- it was so lost though that we didn’t come across any…) than what I would call a “road” but the views were beautiful and the truth is that we had a nice time.
We stopped a few times to rest and also to have lunch, and it was a good time to chat and get to know each other.
Between the jigs and the reels, we were 12 hours on the bikes. We ended up quite beat but happy.
The next week-end I had prepared a nice trip to one of the numerous peninsulas of the area. This was “Mizen Head”.
The idea was to get directly to Baltimore and there follow the “Wild Atlantic Way” road to Mizen Head.
Village where were born Henry Ford’s parents
One of Juan’s colleague had joined us for the ride-out, with his BMW R1200GSlc. He finally led the way and we took a long cut through a very nice place where we stopped for a while. Unfortunately the 2 pubs of the village were still closed.
Glandore
We then followed the road to Baltimore, a nice seaport that reminded a lot some Asturian port. We stopped to have breakfast, Irish breakfast of course.
There was a big yacht parked in the bay, with a helicopter. A local man told us that it was a yacht that was usually rented to people with money, and there was a rumour that this time George Clooney was there. We were not invited to check it out anyway, and the yacht looked more like it was empty…
After breakfast we went to the nearest cape, with an amazing view over the bay.
Then we proceeded to Mizen Head. We arrived to such a beautiful beach (white sand and turquoise water) that Juan’s colleague who was still leading missed the cross to Mizen Head and we ended up in Crookhaven where the road ended. We turned back to get to the right road.
The road to Mizen Head has beautiful views, between others, over a white sand and turquoise waters beach, though we did not stop because we were following our guide.
We arrived to Mizen Head, where there is a big car park and a restaurant, and the entrance to walk to Ireland’s most Southwesterly Point. There is a bridge over the cliffs that must be impressive but we didn’t go because 1-Juan was hungry and preferred to spend his money on fish&chips than on a walk 😀 2- We didn’t have the right shoes nor gear to walk under the sun during I don’t know how much time. So we’ll come back another day to see Ireland’s most southwesterly point.
The temperature was perfect and it was sunny, the perfect day to ride, and also to have an icecream while enjoying the scenery.
After a good while enjoying the views and the sun, Juan’s colleague left us to go back home, and we left a while later.
We stopped on the way down where we couldn’t stop before, though the water was not so turquoise anymore as the tide was higher. But it was lovely anyway.
We went back home through a straighter way. At last we didn’t do the whole planned route but we discovered a nice place we wouldn’t have known without the help of a local.
This day also we got home quite late, but with the head (and the camera lol) full of beautiful images.
Next week-end was for another type of entertainment. We were going to a road race… Report here …
The last June week-end started on Friday. Yeah, I know, they always start on Fridays after work, but this time it really felt like it started on Friday. Juan called me in the afternoon to ask me if I could go buy something to make sandwiches. When he arrived, we put on our bike gear, prepared the sandwiches and went, both on my bike, to a surprise destination (for myself).
After more than 45 minutes on a road, quite uncomfortable, without the rain gear (I don’t know how we could go without the rain gear in Ireland…) and with very dark clouds on the horizon, I was wondering if it had been a good idea…
But 15 minutes later, without a raindrop, we arrived to paradise: the road stopped in front of a lake, mountains and a small chapel.
We had our picnic and the sun came out of the clouds, up the mountain. The truth is that with the sun it was difficult to get good pics because of the backlit.
After the dinner, we walked to the chapel and took pictures.
We stayed there a good while, the place felt very peaceful.
But we had to go back before it was too dark, mainly because of the bumps and pot holes (we don’t see them during the day, so imagine at night) and all the small animals that cross the roads at dusk…
We covered the 70km back home with a smile on our faces…
On Sunday I had thought about doing a nice trip but on Saturday we realised that my front lights were not working and we spent the afternoon (while raining outside) trying to find the fault and correct it. Juan finally found it and fixed it, but then he wanted to reconnect the heated grips (they are not working anymore since a while but we never removed them), and it all went wrong again and a fuse blew up. Well, I won’t get into details but at last on Sunday we went to buy fuses and we finished fixing her. My bike lights are working again. Hope it lasts.
Our first June in Ireland was quite entertaining, with beautiful scenery, road races, and more charming places. It was like being on holidays every week-end! We have to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts…
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