Cummins shows Portrush Potential
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McAdoo Kawasaki Racing’s Conor Cummins had a frustrating time at the 2009 North West 200, but still
managed to prove his potential at the very highest level of pure road racing. Red flags, terrible weather
conditions and problems in practice meant Conor was up against it on race day.
Conor managed to qualify on the third row for both the Superbike and 1000cc Superstock races on the
McAdoo Ninja ZX-10R Kawasakis, but a technical problem on Tuesday night, followed by Thursday’s
cancellation of the second 600cc session, meant the Ramsey Rocket had to start from the very back of
the grid for the Supersport race, on row 9.
Race day brought very changeable weather conditions again, with high winds and rain, mixed with
bright sunshine. Luckily for everyone concerned, the first Superbike race of the day was in dry
conditions. Conor made a bad start from row three dropping a few places off the line, but rapidly
made his way through the field on lap one. The Race Techniques-tuned McAdoo Ninja ZX-10R
Superbike proved to be a match for anything in the field, with Conor passing six or seven top riders to
move into a five man breakaway at the front of the race. On lap two, Conor was chasing hard after the
four factory Hondas and Suzukis of Plater, Anstey, McGuinness and Donald when he had a ‘moment’ at
Church Corner (caught on camera by the BBC) and lost ground on the front four. However, he got his
head down again and easily caught back up to the tail of Donald by the end of lap three, dropping Guy
Martin in the process. At the start of the fourth and final lap, Conor was well in contention for an
excellent podium finish when another crash on the circuit brought red flags and a premature end to
the race. The team were both delighted with Conor’s pace and disappointed the race didn’t run its
course. Despite his bad start and ‘moment’ at Church corner, Conor finished the race just 3.2 seconds
behind winner Steve Plater in 5th place, lapping at 121.752mph in the process.
Conor’s second outing of the day was the Supersport race. Starting from row 9, Conor was always up
against it and was the last man into York corner on lap one in 28th place. However, despite a small
problem with the electronics on the McAdoo Ninja ZX-6R Supersport bike affecting first gear
acceleration, Conor rode superbly and passed 11 riders on lap one. His pace was good despite no
practice whatsoever on the bike, and was lapping at over 115mph despite having to pass so many riders.
At the chequered flag, he ended up in 13th place which was a decent effort and confirmed the
potential of the 2009 Ninja ZX-6R given more time on the bike.
Due to heavy rain later in the day, the Superstock 1000cc race proved to be Conor’s final race at the
2009 NW200 and again it was a case of red flags and what might have been. The third row start was a
big help compared to the Supersport race and Conor was lying in 12th after the dust had settled. Once
again, he picked up the pace and moved up through the field at a rapid pace. At the end of lap two,
Conor had caught the leading train of 6 riders and began to settle into a hot race pace. Disaster struck
again though as half way around lap three, the heavy rain began and red flags ended play. Results were
taken from the end of lap two meaning Conor had to settle for a frustrating 7th place on the McAdoo
Ninja ZX-10R Superstocker.
So the 2009 NW200 was over but the team can take many positives from the meeting. The 2009
Kawasaki bikes were all extremely competitive and Conor proved in the only fully dry race, Superbike
race one, that he was the only other rider able to run comfortably with the factory bikes on the day.
Given more dry time on the bikes in practice, less red flags and rain, things could certainly have been
different. Next stop, the 2009 Isle of Man TT. |
