The KMR Kawasaki team enjoyed yet another excellent day of road racing on Saturday with Jamie Hamilton and Connor Behan recording some impressive results at the Mid-Antrim 150 road races. Hamilton, in particular, was in fine form taking victory in both the Supersport 600 and Supertwins races, the latter seeing him clinch the Irish and Ulster Road Race Championship.
The Ballyclare youngster has excelled all season on the roads and he opened his account for the day with a good runner-up spot behind Derek Sheils in the Open race before going on to take a superb win in the 600cc event, his first in the class on the roads. Switching to the 650cc ER6 for the Supertwin race, he quite simply dominated the race and, aided by a new lap record of 102.915mph, he ran out victor by a commanding 23.4s.
That just left the Grand Final and with a number of changes to the set-up of the bike, particularly with the suspension, he was able to lap some four seconds quicker than earlier in the day. The race saw Jamie and Sheils tied together for almost the entire race but, just as he'd taken the lead on the final lap, the duo encountered some back markers and, as they both chose their path to overtake, the pair crashed out heavily, fortunately without injury although the same couldn't be said for either machine.
Cheshire's Behan was also in good form although a decision to run wet tyres for the Senior Support race didn't pay off as the track dried up rapidly after a brief shower. Nevertheless, he was still able to take a solid fifth before enjoying a superb tussle with season long rival Mark Hanna in the Junior Support race. There was little to choose between them and although Hanna got the verdict on this occasion by just 0.115s, Connor did have the consolation of a new lap record with a speed of 100.912mph, over 7mph quicker than the old mark!
Speaking afterwards, team boss Ryan Farquhar commented; "Up until the last race, everything had been going brilliantly and it's just a shame it ended in the way it did although the main thing of course is that both riders are ok. Jamie had been having a fantastic day and the highlight was the win in the Supertwins race that saw the Irish Championship return to KMR Kawasaki. It was also great to see him take his first Supersport race win and he really has been riding superbly this season so it was the least he deserved. He's been struggling a wee bit with the set-up of the big bike but after I took it out for a couple of parade laps, I could tell the suspension wasn't quite right and the few changes we made allowed him to go a lot quicker.
"People will argue as to who's fault the crash was but it won't change anything and both teams have wrecked bikes so it's unfortunate for all concerned although, like I say, the main thing is that both Jamie and Derek are ok. It's one of those things that we all know can happen in racing and I'm really disappointed for Jamie more than anything as he was in a great position to take his first big bike win on the roads.
"Connor had another strong day and his fifth place on the 636cc Kawasaki in the Senior Support race was excellent given the state of his tyres! He decided to switch to the wets after the warm-up lap but the track dried up really quickly and he had no tread left at all so it was a great finish. In the Junior Support race, it was again a battle between him and Mark Hanna, who's also been riding well all year, and we had to settle for second this time. I held the majority of the lap records up until today but they've all gone now although at least two of them are still held by KMR Kawasaki riders!"
