Falkirk’s Keith Amor set the Cookstown 100 road races alight on Saturday with some scintillating performances on his 600cc Wilson Craig Honda around the 2.1-mile Orritor circuit.
Race day saw ideal conditions for the traditional curtain raiser to the Irish road race season and despite only having the use of his 600cc Honda, Amor opened his account with 3rd place in the Open 1000cc race. When the Supersport 600cc race came to the line though, it was a different matter and the Scotsman put in a brilliant performance to not only lead the race from start to finish but also to better the old class lap record by over 2 seconds. Even more remarkably, he also bettered the outright lap record for the circuit, going quicker than the times set by the Superbike machine of Cameron Donald in 2007.
Keith took the chequered flag at the end of the ten laps to win by a comfortable 3.848seconds and he came to the line for the feature Cookstown 100 Open race in confident mood. Fifth at the end of the opening lap, he soon began to move forward and by half race distance he was up to third and just a few tenths behind Ryan Farquhar and Martin Finnegan. Try as he might though, the Superbikes continued to hold sway with the extra speed along the straights proving crucial and Keith crossed the line in 3rd place, albeit just 2.34seconds adrift. However, a lap of 1m24.927s on the 8th lap meant he did have the consolation of leaving with the outright lap record
Speaking after his day’s work, Keith commented:
‘It’s been a good day and to win the 600cc race and take the outright lap record is obviously a great way to start the road race season. I’m really happy with the times I was doing on the 600cc bike but I can’t help feel a little bit frustrated as I’m sure that if I’d have been on the Superbike it would have been a different story in the Open races. We tested it a couple of days prior to the race but it developed a problem and we had to make do with the smaller bike.’
‘The boys have done a great job with the 600 though and with some new tyres from Dunlop, that were simply awesome, I was able to be right at the sharp end. The 600cc race went perfectly and once I settled into my rhythm and relaxed, I was able to pull away steadily. I was getting unbelievable grip all day and it was only on straight line speed where Ryan and Martin had an advantage in the Superbike races but I’m happy enough with a win and two third places. Hopefully, the Superbike will be ready for next week and we’ll be even stronger.’
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