Mixed weekend at Croft for Cummins Conor Cummins endured mixed fortunes in Round 10 of the British Supersport Championship at Croft at the weekend but although he slid out of the action on lap 5 of the shortened 10-lap race, it was a valuable, learning experience for the Manxman. The 22-year old was having a one-off ride for the AIM Racing Yamaha team, for whom he will be riding at November’s Macau Grand Prix, and it would be his first ever appearance in a British Superpsort race. Practice went steadily for Cummins as he got used to the unfamiliar machine, in particular the electronics package, but he was improving all the time and, after a low speed spill, he improved his times in the final qualifying session. A time of 1m24.102s saw him jump up to 17th overall and he lined up on the fifth row of the grid. At the start of the race Conor maintained his 17th place but just as it looked like he would move up into the top 15 and the points, the red flag came out due to a crash involving Ashley Beech. In the 10-lap re-run, he was again running on the edge of the points but on the 5th lap he slid off at at Tower Bend and his race was over. Commenting about the weekend, Conor said: ‘It’s been a really good experience riding in the 600cc class and although the result obviously wasn’t what I’d hoped for, I’ve learnt so much this weekend. Riding a bike with such a sophisticated electronics system was completely new to me and it took quite a while to get anywhere near used to it. Practice went fairly well although I slid off in Saturday’s first qualifying session when I drifted off the dry line by about 6 inches. I dug deep in the afternoon session and was reasonably happy with 17th on the grid.’ ‘The closeness of the times in the class is incredible but I was hopeful of picking up some points in the race. I made a good start and was on the back of a big group of riders who were battling it out for top ten positions but I made a mistake on one of the corners and down I went. I was faster than the riders in front of me in some sections but I just couldn’t find a way by and was simply pushing hard to find a way by them. It’s a shame but I’ve really enjoyed working with the team this weekend and they couldn’t have done any more for me so that will stand us in good stead at Macau.’ Conor’s next outing will be at this weekend’s International Gold Cup meeting at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough where he will make his circuit debut on TG Racing’s 250cc Honda. More, from a press release issued by Ryan Farquhar’s publicist: Farquhar completes superb Irish Road Race Championship double Ryan Farquhar finished the 2008 Irish National Road Race season on a high at Killalane on Sunday and added two more wins to his impressive haul when he took victory in both of the Superbike races. He backed this up with a brace of thirds in the Supersport races and the results meant that he clinched both the Superbike and Supersport Championships to crown a brilliant season for the 32-year old. In the two Supersport races Ryan had two solid rides into third place, on each occasion finishing less than six seconds adrift of the race winner Keith Amor but the final podium place in the Championship race was enough for him to clinch the crown. In the Open and Grand Final, Amor was his closest challenger once more, as has been the norm throughout 2008, and, again, there was little to choose between them. However, on each occasion, Ryan had the upper hand with his winning margins being 0.144s and 0.939s respectively and he also had the honour of setting a new, absolute course lap record at 112..704mph. The results also meant another Irish Championship was on it’s way to the Dungannon rider’s home. Speaking later, a delighted Ryan said: “It’s been a good day here at Killalane and I’m delighted to have clinched both the Superbike and Supersport Championships. We’ve had a great season so it’s nice to finish off with some more race wins and I can’t have asked for anything more. We were down a wee bit on power in the 600cc races so I just consolidated my third place on each occasion to ensure that I wrapped up the crown and it worked out perfectly.” “The ZX-10 Kawasaki Superstock was flying again and I can’t fault how it has performed all year, it’s really done me proud. I used the tyres that I’d practiced on at the Ulster GP in the first race but for the Grand Final I fitted a new tyre and it gave me that little bit extra. It was quite tough against Keith on his Superbike and it was another close, hard fought race, as it has been all season but I managed to keep him at bay. It was nice to get the lap record as well and I’ve really enjoyed riding against Keith this season and we’ve had some great battles.” Ryan will now make his way to Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough for the International Gold Cup races where he hopes to add to his success and clinch the Duke Road Race Rankings Championship. The meeting takes place on September 20-21.