Jackson heads field for Skerries races

THE weekend offers a feast of motorcycle racing, with the Castrol sponsored Skerries road races tomorrow and the Leinster 200 track races at Mondello Park on Sunday. Also tomorrow is one of the big rally attractions in the Seat Rallysprint at Lurgan Park.

The 51st Skerries 100 road races have attracted a record entry, headed by English rider Bob Jackson who is currently in peak form, having recently won the Dundrod 150 on a 750cc Kawasaki.

Other riders to note are Derek Young, who scored a double at Dundalk two weeks ago, Gary Dynes, Dennis McCullough and Owen McNally, and the extremely brave Italian woman Francesca Giordano who takes to the roads on a 400cc Yamaha.

Practice starts this evening at 6.00 p.m. and roads close at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow for a full programme of races from the 125s to the powerful 750s and 1000cc machines.

As well as the modern machines, there will be two races for the classic bikes, handled by Bob Jackson, Danny Shimmin, Karl Wilkie, Gordon Bell and Alex Donaldson, who are the class riders of the classics.

The first Skerries races were held in July 1946, run over a 7.1 mile circuit which saw the motorcycles racing through some streets of the North Dublin seaside town. The circuit now used is 2.92 miles in length, for which the 102.65 mph lap record was set by Philip McCallum on a 250cc Honda in 1991.

Many famous riders have raced at Skerries, a virtual who's who of motorcycle road racing, including Geoff Duke, Ernie Lyons, Tommy Robb, Ralph Rensen, Ralph Bryans (Ireland's first World motorcycle champion, winner of the title in 1965 on a works 50cc Honda), Louis Carter and Joey Dunlop. This year Dunlop will miss Skerries as he is racing in Russia this weekend.

Sunday will see the biggest motorcycle meeting at Mondello Park for years, with the absolutely huge entry headed by Scottish pair Ian Simpson and Jim Moodie riding for the Duckhams Ducati team. They were both in top form in this year's NorthWest 200, and Moodie recently added an Isle of Man TT race win to his tally.

More big names on the Mondello programme are Robin Milton. Robin Appleyard and Peter Graves, all with Grand Prix racing experience, Johnny Rea, Callum Ramsey and Simon Turner. But the one to watch is sure to be Woolsey Coulter.