THE beautiful town of Dunmanway in West Cork played host to its first ever road race, and the town that gave birth to one of Ireland's most famous names Sam Maguire, gave the travelling circus an All-Ireland display. The West Cork club showed how to run an event, and their organisation should be copied by other clubs, on how to run an event. Clerk of the Course Sean Bissett ran the 11 race programme with precision and despite having to red flag the Senior Classic, everything was over at 3.30, and that included closing the town, and having to rebale the whole town.

Ryan Farquhar was again on fire, and he took four wins from five starts, and it was only for the sheer speed of Michael Dunlop riding Gary Ryan's 600 Yamaha, who took the Supersport win, denying Farquhar of a clean sweep. Dean Harrison was having another great day at the office and took all three support races, and the locals had a mixed weekend, with David Yeomans finishing second to Harrison, and retiring in the senior support, and in doing so, saw his senior championship chances go out the door. Alan Bonner gained the most by ' Yomo's' misfortune, and now is 24 points ahead with only Killalane left. David Howard was unfortunate, when he slid off in his two races, at the same spot. Ciaran Donnelly had a good weekend when he finished fourth in the 125 race, and Derek Costello second in the 400 class.

The first race of the day, the Open saw Farquhar take his first win when he pipped Michael Dunlop by just 0.69 of a second, with Dubliner Derek Shiels having a great race, finishing third. Damien Howard rode his first race since Walderstown and finished a creditable 7th, and Derek Costello was 14th. The 401-750 Support was next on the cards, and Dean Harrison was again on fire, and he took the lead on lap one, with Yeomans second and Bonner third. By lap three Bonner had had moved into second, with Yomo back in third, disaster struck Yomo on lap 4 when the battery lead came lose, forcing him to retire.

This left Bonner with a clear second, and he could not catch Harrison who won by 9 seconds. Paul Barron was third, Peter O' Flaherty rode a steady race to finish 9th. David Howard retired after sliding off on lap 3. Ed Manly won the Junior 350 classic race after leading from the start, with Manx rider Alan Brew finishing just ahead of Denis Gallagher. Philip Shaw won the 250 class from Richard Ford and Alex Mc. Vicker.

The large crowd were treated to a great 600 race, with Michael Dunlop taking the lead on lap one, and Ryan Farquhar and William Dunlop close behind. Michael Dunlop was riding an excellent race, and was never headed, and took the win over Farquhar by 7 seconds with William Dunlop just 0.5 of a second back in third. Derek Costello finished in 10th place. William Dunlop had to work hard to fend off Wayne Kennedy in the 250/ 400 race, and it was Kennedy who was the surprise leader for the first two laps, but Dunlop took the lead on lap three and finished 1.2 seconds ahead of Kennedy with Robert McCrumb back in third. Michael Dunlop made a rare appearance on Gary Ryan's 400 Honda, the bike normally raced on the short circuit by Shane Bertram, and he took the win in the race from Derek Costello with Alan Connor back in third.

The battle for the Junior support championship between David Yeomans, Dean Harrison and David Howard, took another twist, with Harrison winning from Yeomans and David Howard slipping off for the second time, thankfully with only cuts and bruises, but throwing away his chances of the championship.

Harrison took his third victory in a row in the class, with Yeoman's second and Ciaran O' Callaghan third. Peter O' Flaherty was fourth and Ciaran Donnelly sixth. This result now leaves the championship between Yeomans and Harrison with only four points separating the pair, with the final round at Killalane to come. The 125/ 450 race saw Farquhar take his second win of the day from William Dunlop with Wayne Kennedy third. Ciaran Donnelly finished fourth ahead of Michael Dunlop with Kevin Russell seventh. Farquhar had an easy win in the Supertwin class, and a class that he hasn't been beaten in, in the past two years. John Burrows fought off the challenge of Derek Shiels for runner up, but there was a great battle between Derek Costello and Peter O'Flaherty going on behind for fifth, and it was Costello who took the placing from O'Flaherty on the last corner. Robert McCrumb continued his winning ways in the Senior Classic race re-run, after it was red flagged on lap three after and accident. The two riders had only minor injuries. McCrumb won from Alan Brew, with Billy Lyle in third place. The non-championship senior support, again saw Harrison take the chequered flag from Alan Bonner, with Paul Barron third. Peter O'Flaherty was sixth. The Munster 100 Grand Final had the best prize fund of the season, and the € 3.500 winning prize was a great carrot for the riders, who put on an excellent show for the great crowd, who were delighted to see the quality riders make the long trip to West Cork. Farquhar took the lead on lap one, and with Michael Dunlop and Derek Shiels close behind.

The tight 1.8 mile course was testing but Farquhar stuck to the task and help off Dunlop to win by 3 seconds, with Shiels finishing third. William Dunlop was fourth, John Burrows fifth, and John Walsh sixth. Damien Howard rode a steady race to finish 10th.

The first running of the Munster 100 in Dunmanway was a great success, and despite the town been closed off for two days, I hope that the event will continue, and with the weather, coupled with a great crowd witnessing an event, it was a credit to the town, and the club.

Keep ' er lit

- with JACK CORRY