Ryan fires back

Not even a 10-second penalty for a jumped start managed to spoil Ryan Kneen’s day as he opened the defence of his Isle of Man Centre ACU road race title in style in cool and breezy conditions.

Riding a 2013 Kawasaki ZX10, he initially had a lot to do after qualifying only seventh quickest on slick tyres in damp conditions. He overtook fast-starting pole-setter Ryan Cringle on lap four and eventually edged clear of the eager 20-year-old to win the race by almost five seconds. But then it was announced that Kneen had been docked a time penalty for allegedly jumping the start, demoting him to the runner-up spot 5.7s behind Cringle’s ZX6 Kawasaki.

Glenn Harrison rode his 600 Suzuki to a solid third place in front of relative newcomer Ashley Blake, with Callum Collister fifth on the Bullock Manxsport Honda CBR 600. Kneen, who set a new track record of 1m 08.949s on his way to victory, appeared to have his task considerably eased in the second open class race as closest rival Cringle was a non-starter after spilling off in a support race, causing light damage to his bike.

However, Harrison pushed him all the way to the flag of a shortened six-lap event to cross the line just seven tenths of a second adrift. Michael Evans, who suffered a 15s penalty in race one, rode extremely well to finish a comfortable third ahead of a returning Paul Dedman.

Cringle and Kneen level

The two Ryans shared a win apiece in the 600cc class on near identical ZX6 Kawasakis.

Cringle, Andreas Racing Association’s leading clubman of 2013, edged across the line a mere 1.48 of a second ahead of Kneen in race one, with Glenn Harrison a further 1.1s down in third.

The same three were at it hammer and tong in the other 600cc race, but this time it was Kneen who edged home less than half a second in front of Harrison, with Cringle forced to settle for third a further two tenths of a second in arrears.

Brian takes chairs opener

Seasoned campaigner Brian Kelly knocked the best part of one second off his previous best time for the 1.7-mile clockwise GP circuit at Jurby on his way to winning the first sidecar championship race of the season.

After early leaders Karl Bennett and Lee Cain dropped out on lap two with engine trouble, Kelly and passenger Jason O’Connor staved off a strong challenge from defending champions Craig Melvin and Stuart Christian to take the honours by more than six seconds.

Darren Hope and Paul Bumfrey led the second championship race from start to finish to beat Kelly/O’Connor by more than 16s, also claiming the lone F2 race for good measure.

Seeing red too often

No fewer than nine red flags made the solo support races very much a stop-start affair. One race was started three times as riders struggled to get heat into their bike’s tyres.

The first combined Single, Twin, Triple and Post-Classic race was eventually won by Eddie Venn at record speed on the steel-framed Honda, closely followed by veteran campaigner Dave Madsen-Mygdal on the Post-Classic RC30 Honda, who then promptly turned the tables in race two. Stephen Ault was the leading Single, Twin, Triple rider home in each.

TT riders’ liaison John Barton and 2013 Newcomers Manx Grand Prix winner Callum Collister shared the spoils in the 650cc class, with David Kennington and Keith McKay mopping up in the 400cc and classic categories respectively .Michael Evans was the impressive double winner in the clubman class on his 600cc Suzuki.

Results

1300cc Solo Championship

Race 1 (8 laps):

1 R. Cringle 9m 46.804s, 2 R. Kneen, 3 G. Harrison, 4 A. Blake, 5 C. Collister, 6 P. Dedman, 7 M. Evans, 8 D. Moffitt, 9 S. Fulton, 10 N. Champion, 11 D. Roberts, 12 R. Maher, 13 R. Parker, 14 J. Ford, 15 D. Madsen-Mygdal, 16 B. Fargher, 17 J. O’Brien, 18 E. Venn, 19 P. Smyth, 20 J. Corcoran.

Race 2 (6 laps):

1 R. Kneen 7m 22.133s, 2 G. Harrison, 3 M. Evans, 4 P. Dedman, 5 S. Fulton, 6 N. Champion, 7 J. Ford, 8 R. Parker, 9 D. Moffitt, 10 D. Madsen-Mygdal, 11 J. Meechan, 12 P. Wilkinson, 13 E. Venn, 14 S. Ault, 15 P. Duckett, 16 P. Smyth, 17 L. Cummins.

1300cc Sidecar Championship

Race 1 (8 laps):

1 Kelly/O’Connor 10m 35.303s, 2 Melvin/Christian, 3 Barron/Schofield.

Race 2 (6 laps):

1 Hope/Bumfrey 7m 37.873s, 2 Kelly/O’Connor, 3 Melvin/Christian.

600cc Solo

Race 1 (6 laps):

1 R. Cringle 7m 20.411s, 2 R. Kneen, 3 G. Harrison, 4 C. Collister, 5 A. Blake, 6 J. Ford, 7 D. Roberts, 8 D. Moffitt, 9 M. Evans, 10 S. Beale, 11 M. Colvin, 12 J. Williams, 13 J. O’Brien, 14 D. Dickinson, 15 N. Smith, 16 C. Brew, 17 T. Devlin, 18 A. Cowie, 19 R. Nelson, 20 D. Quine, 21 N. Kirby, 22 R. Simmons.

Race 2 (4 laps):

1 R. Kneen 4m 52.461s, 2 G. Harrison, 3 R. Cringle, 4 M. Evans, 5 A. Blake, 6 J. Ford, 7 D. Moffitt, 8 S. Beale, 9 J. Corcoran, 10 J. O’Brien, 11 D. Dickinson, 12 M. Colvin, 13 D. Quine, 14 P. Smyth, 15 N. Kirby, 16 L. Cummins, 17 N. Smith, 18 A. Cowie.

Post Classic Single, Twin & Triple

Race 1 (4 laps):

1 D. Madsen-Mygdal 5m 25.374s, 2 E. Venn, 3 L. Parkinson, 4 S. Ault, 5 T. Devlin, 6 A. Cowie, 7 R. Bregazzi, 8 N. Harrison, 9 J. Hunter, 10 P. Turner, 11 S. Bedford, 12 R. Temple, 13 R. Bairstow, 14 J. Royston, 15 A. Foster, 16 A. Jones, 17 D. Brew, 18 J. Creer, 19 F. Stennett, 20 T. Authers.

Race 2 (4 laps):

1 E. Venn 5m 15.584s, 2 D. Madsen-Mygdal, 3 S. Ault, 4 N. Harrison, 5 J. Royston, 6 N. Champion, 7 R. Bregazzi, 8 A. Cowie, 9 S. Bedford, 10 P. Turner, 11 R. Temple, 12 R. Waterfall, 13 J. Smith, 14 A. Foster, 15 D. Brew, 16 F. Stennett, 17 J. Creer, 18 T. Authers, 19 J. Broomfield.

Formula 600cc / 1300cc Club Championship (4 laps):

1 Hope/Bumfrey 5m 19.595s, 2 Kelly/O’Connor.

650cc & 400cc Classic Solo

Race 1 (3 laps):

1 J. Barton 4m 00.021s, 2 C. Collister, 3 D. Kennington, 4 N. Harrison, 5 R. Bregazzi, 6 A. Bayley, 7 L. Miller, 8 S. Nathan, 9 A. Foster, 10 J. Smith, 11 R. Bairstow, 12 A. Jones, 13 D. Bone, 14 D. Brew, 15 J. Creer, 16 G. Brown, 17 G. Day, 18 T. Authers, 19 K. McKay, 20 J. Broomfield.

Race 2 (4 laps):

1 C. Collister 5m 11.884s, 2 D. Kennington, 3 N. Champion, 4 N. Harrison, 5 A. Bayley, 6 R. Bregazzi, 7 L. Miller, 8 S. Nathan, 9 R. Waterfall, 10 A. Foster, 11 D. Bone, 12 J. Smith, 13 D. Brew, 14 G. Day, 15 G. Brown, 16 J. Creer, 17 K. McKay, 18 T. Authers, 19 S. Phillips, 20 J. Broomfield.

Clubman & Novice

Race 1 (4 laps):

1 M. Evans 5m 28.112s, 2 B. Fargher, 3 D. Dickinson, 4 D. Quine, 5 P. Wilkinson, 6 M. Colvin, 7 W. Barsby, 8 P. Turner, 9 J. Royston, 10 S. Bedford, 11 L. Cummins, 12 R. Temple, 13 F. Stennett, 14 S. Phillips, 15 P. Warriner, 16 E. Stutt, 17 B. Glaister, 18 L. Crowe, 19 K. Glaister.

Race 2 (4 laps):

1 M. Evans 5m 04.327s, 2 M. Colvin, 3 P. Wilkinson, 4 D. Dickinson, 5 D. Quine, 6 P. Turner, 7 L. Cummins, 8 F. Stennett, 9 S. Phillips, 10 B. Glaister, 11 L. Crowe, 12 K. Glaister.