22/07/12 – Olympic Bound McCann Fastest in Ernie Magwood Memorial TT

David McCann dominated the Lafarge Cement Ireland sponsored Ernie Magwood Memorial 10 today at Cookstown. David, who is travelling to London to represent Ireland at the Olympics, used the event as his tune up before he does battle with Fabian and Co next week. On the day he showed his world level talent with a clear win by 1m 54s over his nearest rival, and also shattering the course record by 32 seconds in far from ideal conditions. Runner up to the unbeatable was Stuart Bennett of Phoenix, who is a past winner of the Inaugural Super 6 league which Ernie had co-created, with another rider Ernie respected, Ivan Robinson of Ards, who was the defending champion being shaded for 2nd by a single second.

The Omagh road attracted testers from far and wide, those who had tasted it at the Super 6 all keen to get and try it again, When the wind blows from the west it can be exceptionally fast, however this morning the main chimney stack at Lafarge’s plant (I have to mention them again, they pay my salary) suggested the wind would be slightly from the south also, hitting the riders on their right side on the long home leg, and dropping times back slightly. Forty four riders however tackled the course, with Darrell Erwin one of the first riders back with an impressive time, inside his Irish record set last week, however with the start and finish being almost 3 miles apart the course isn’t legal for record purposes, but impressive none the less. Next impressive time was John Hunter who was keen as mustard and managed to get the 22 that he craved. Gerald McNally from Bann Valley took the win in the standard bikes section, with an impressive 24:31, and Bernie Monaghan of Dromara was fastest woman with a 27:21 beating ETCC’s Lorraine Jeffers, who's following in her very speedy son’s footsteps by setting a great 28:02.  Another rider setting a super quick time was Connor young of Ballymena, on a borrowed TT bike, today he added a disc wheel, and instantly found 20 seconds, Connor will really fly given more time on the bike. After refreshments the awards were presented by the Magwood family of Christine, Ricky and Leslie, with Gary Jeffers lifting the award for fastest ETCC rider and also finishing 4th overall. Big Ernie would have smiled down on us all today, he often talked of what a top rider could do on our wee course as we tried to go sub 21, with Ernie himself the fastest of the ETCC men with a 21:00.1 (the bugger!) which he would have bribed Oliver Hunter to change to a 20:59 if it wasn’t for the electronic timing being used!!! Today we got our answer, 19:21, bloody impressive, best of luck at the Olympics David from all at ETCC. And also thanks to all riders helpers and timekeepers for their work today.

Lafarge Cement Ernie Magwood Memorial 10 Mile TT Results

1 David McCann 19:21
2 Stuart Bennett 21:15
3 Ivan Robinson 21:16
4 Gary Jeffers 21:26
5 Glen Warnock 21:52
6 Brendan McCourt 22:06
7 Connor Young 22:08
8 Bob Talbot 22:09
9 David Heagney 22:19
10 John McGlaughlin 22:20
11 Ivan Reid 22:28
12 John Clyde 22:29
13 Gerard McVeigh 22:49
14 John Hunter 22:51
15 Richie Archer 23:08
16 Martin McConville 23:15
17 John McCauley 23:16
18 Ivor Wilkinson 23:27
19 David Quinn 23:31
20 Alan Somerville 23:39
21 John Oneill 23:51
22 David Blevins 23:52
23 Harry Martin 24:24:00
24 Geoffery Leonard 24:26:00
25 Gerald McNally 24:31:00
26 Barry Hayes 24:37:00
27 Barry Doyle 24:40:00
28 Warren McNeill 24:48:00
29 Melvin Steele 24:59:00
30 Mark Hewitt 25:00:00
31 Pierce Atchinson 25:05:00
32 Steven Bruce 25:19:00
33 Brian McComb 25:20:00
34 Colin Wilson 25:31:00
35 Harry McComb 25:32:00
36 Leslie Mitchell 26:04:00
37 Richard Young 26:29:00
38 Raphael Scullion 26:49:00
39 Bernie Monaghan 27:21:00
40 Lorraine Jeffers 28:02:00
41 Gareth Badger 28:41:00
42 Mark Stewart 30:35:00
43 Sarah McIlwaine 30:43:00
44 Darrell Erwin 31:03:00

Report & Results: David Heagney