Former Irish Superbike Champion Michael Pearson tackled his first ever Tandragee 100 Road Races on Saturday on the Carryduff Forklifts R1 Yamaha and GSMCC Honda, with Pearson topping off a very successful debut with a fifth place finish in the Around a Pound Tandragee 100 feature race, and with it, the Eddie Sinton Trophy for the first 600 machine to finish, and the Daniel Humphries Trophy for the best performance by a newcomer.
At the sun-baked venue, Pearson set his fastest lap of the day in the Tandragee 100 Open race, in which he opted to ride the GSMCC 600 Honda, at 3m08.7 seconds, a speed of 101.980mph, a full six seconds faster than his first lap of the day in the 250/Open race on the Davy Greer backed R1 Yamaha.
"I am very pleased with the way I have ridden here today. This is my first visit to the Tandragee, and it was quite fantastic. It's a true road racing circuit, with fast corners, big jumps, and long straights, so if gives you everything you would want," said Pearson.
"I went out in the 250/Open race on my Carryduff Forklifts R1 Yamaha, and I was having problems keeping the big 1000cc machine in a straight line. I don't know what is wrong with her, but everytime you hit the brakes, she feels like she's going to throw you off.
"I did not fancy being tossed into the Tandragee hedgerows, so we decided that we would try the Supersport 600 in the last race of the day, the Tandragee 100 feature race. My first run on the 600 came in the Supersport 600 race and the wee bike ran like a train on a track.
"It's without doubt the best bike that I have ever ridden. You point it, and that's where she goes. I had a good race with Derek Brien on his 600 Yamaha, and I was determined not to let him beat me but he was hard to fend off. I got a good last lap in and went for it and was well pleased to finish in 6th place just behind William Dunlop.
"In the Grand Final for the Tandragee 100, I got a good start on the 600 and was with the leaders for about two laps, before I got caught up in a ding dong battle with Davy Morgan and Michael Dunlop, who were both on Superbikes. Morgan and I got a bit of a break on Dunlop and it was left between Davy and I to battle it out for 5th place.
"I stuck my fastest lap of the day in on lap 5 at 3m08.786s and just got a bit of a break on Davy who pushed me hard all the way. I was just able to hold him off to take fifth place and the Eddie Sinton Trophy for the first 600 machine home in the Superbike race. I am not sure if I have also won the Best Overall Newcomers Award, and that would be nice, but today's results will do me very nicely indeed, as we head to the North West 200 in two weeks time. The Dunlop tyres worked a wonder, and as time goes on you just get more and more confident with them."
