First-category licence holders are excluded from the Eagle club's Dunboyne three-day promotion this weekend and although the top men can take part in the race at Hillsborough tomorrow and at Cookstown and Clonmel on Sunday, the programme has not been very attractive for them since the FBD Milk Ras.
Last Sunday there was just the event at Tipperary and this midseason lull is something those who compile the list of fixtures should give some consideration to or the season will just peter out after the finish of the nine-day Ras in May.
The Tommy Given memorial race is at Hillsborough with the Tour of the Sperrins at Cookstown along with the Bill Hyland memorial at Clonmel, so a lot of travelling would be involved for the majority.
Navan and Banbridge are the venues on the following Sundays before the championship races for seniors and juniors over a 25miles circuit through Kilmeadan and Portlaw on June 27th.
After Ciaran Power's good efforts in the British Prutour, he is expected to head the line-up at Clonmel with probable opposition from Ray Clarke, Eugene Moriarty, Paul Griffin, Brian Kenneally and Eddy O'Donoghue but Micheal Fitzgerald is unlikely to be involved.
The Dunboyne race, organised by Alice Sherratt, is one of the events that Mark Scanlon dominated last year before he won the world junior championship.
Sean Bracken, whose Leinster selections have done so well this season, has named Fintan McCormack (Newbridge), Tony Brady (Cuchulainn), Frank O'Leary (Ushers IRC) and Tom Hughes (Stamullen) for Dunboyne with Joe McKay the manager.
Stage one tomorrow (2.30) is over 70 miles with a 3.5 miles time trial on Sunday morning (10.0) and 64 miles at 2.30. The final stage on Monday (1.0) is over 74 miles.
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