Sunflower, ISB championship, Ireland
Bishopscourt, Co Down hosted ‘The Sunflower' last weekend, Ireland'sbiggest short circuit racing event of the year. Fermanagh's youngest competitor, Josh Elliott recovered from the fall he had at Mondello two weeks ago sufficiently and joined the entry list. Using the 'Blanch Pak' 125 Honda, he was hoping for a good result to close his domestic racing season.
First qualifying was held in bright and breezy conditions and young Elliott was hoping to match or better his times from his race winning performance there in June. This time round better engine components had been fitted inan attempt to stay with the top bikes on speed, but the gamble did not pay off as the new parts needed more setup time and performance was poor. He could only manage ninth position on the grid and was over a second off his best time in June.
The original barrel was refitted and with no time to run in a new piston, a second hand one was fitted for morning warm up the next day. Ninth place again in warm up highlighted there was still work to do on the engine.
Race one was in dry, windy conditions with rain threatening and Elliott got a good start from row two making some ground up in turn one. A race long battle ensued with KRP team mates Paul Jordan and Timmy Hastings as he bravely tried to hold on to the British Championship top runners. As drops of rain fell late in the race the Fermanagh youngster settled for an excellent sixth place.
"That was good fun with Paul and Timmy," commented Elliott, "We touched a few times down through the back chicanes. I held on as long as I could but they eventually made too much ground on me on the straights. When the spits of rain came, pushing in the corners was getting a bit chancy and I was happy with 6th."
Race two was wet and with further adjustments to his bike's jetting the Ballinamallard boy was hoping for another good run. Elliott used the improvement so badly needed to good effect. Another decent start meant he was again in the top six on lap one, but this time he and William Dunlop were closing and putting pressure on PJ Jacobsen. The American, who had been so impressive in qualifying setting pole position, slid off just in front of them and out of contention. Dunlop made rapid progress to the front as Elliott upped his own pace to eventually secure a safe second place ahead of Timmy Hastings.
Speaking after the podium celebrations Elliott commented, "I never thought I'd be able to mix it with the KRP team boys here, but I just tried my best and it worked out. My bike was running better in the second race and a second place finish is fantastic."
Team principal Julian Elliott spoke of his delight at Josh's results, "I am over the moon with Josh's performance. I didn't get the bike going well enough in qualifying and that left it very difficult for him. Thankfully the old parts we fitted worked better and he did the rest. I have to say a massive thanks to our sponsors, John O'Neill and Des Moore, David Guiney of Blanch Pak, Irishbikeracing, Motodirect with AGV helmets, System Signs, and Crossan motorcycles. We had superb help from many people too numerous to mention, but a special thanks to Jeremy McWilliams, Ian Marshall and all the rest of the team."