The KMR Kawasaki powered by Vauxhall (Northern Ireland dealers) team made a winning start to the Irish Road Race Championship season with two race wins at Saturday’s Cookstown 100 meeting. Jamie Hamilton took the win in the Supertwins race to maintain his 100% winning record in the class this year whilst Connor Behan took a debut victory both for the team and on the Irish roads with an excellent win in the Junior Support class.

With good, dry conditions all around the 2.1-mile Orritor circuit, Hamilton dominated the Supertwins race to win by over seven seconds, adding to the two race wins he took at Scarborough one week ago and he also had a good day in the other classes. Riding the Kawasaki ZX-10R in the two Superbike races, the 22-year old took a strong seventh in the Open race and improved to an excellent fifth in the Grand Final, the feature race of the day. He also overcame handling problems in the Supersport 600cc race to record a solid eighth place.


Behan also impressed as he had his first ever race on the Irish public roads and, after a race long battle with Mark Hanna, he was able to make a dream start for KMR Kawasaki in the Junior Support Championship with an excellent race win. Meanwhile, he also had a good outing on the 636cc Kawasaki in the Senior Support race where, despite having to start from the back row of the third wave, he came through the field to take an excellent seventh place.


Brian McCormack was also in action for the KMR Kawasaki team as he made his first outing on the team’s Kawasaki ZX-10R and having been forced to retire from the opening Superbike race with clutch problems, he bounced back to take a more than useful eighth in the Grand Final.


Speaking afterwards, a pleased team boss Ryan Farquhar said;

“All in all, it’s been a very good day and start to our Irish Road Race Championship season and I’m particularly pleased to have maintained our 100% record in the Supertwins races. Jamie had a faultless ride in the main Supertwins race and was in command throughout whilst he also had two good, steady rides on the 1000cc bike. His ride in the main race was especially good as there was not only a lot of experienced riders in front of him, but also behind too. The 600 wasn’t handling the best for him but he still brought the bike home for a good eighth to ensure he had four top eight finishes from four starts.”

“Connor was having his second meeting with the team but his first in Ireland and to win first time out in the Junior Support race was excellent. To put it into context, his pace would have meant he would have finished seventh in the main Supertwins race whilst his fastest lap was only 0.8s slower than Michael Dunlop’s so we’re really happy with how he’s performing. Starting from so far back in the Senior Support race was always going to be a tall order but, again, he put in a really mature ride and was rewarded with a fine seventh place.”

“It was also good to have Brian out on the bikes for the first time and although he’s not quite bike fit yet or used to the bikes, only a bit of bad luck with the clutch prevented him from having two top eight finishes. He bounced back well in the Grand Final and if it hadn’t been for overshooting one of the road ends it could well have been even better but, like I say, we’re happy with how the day’s gone for all of the riders and are now looking forward to Tandragee.”

All three riders will be back in action next Saturday, May 4th, at the Tandragee 100 road races.



Richard Radcliffe

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