Ideal conditions greeted riders as they commence practice and qualifying at 9.00am on Saturday morning at the 64th running of the Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup Road Races at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough.
The opening race of the weekend programme was the first leg of the A Final for the David Jefferies Trophy over eight laps.
Ivan Lintin had pole position but it was Lee Johnston who got the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin and was in the lead at the end of the first lap followed by Daley Mathison and Ivan Lintin.
By lap three Lintin had passed Mathison to take second place and set about closing the gap of over one second between himself and Johnston. By lap five it was down to 0.2 of a second and on lap six he was leading by 0.032 of a second increasing it to 3 seconds at the chequered flag two laps later. Daley Mathison was third.
Next up was the opening leg of the Lee Pullan Trophy, again over eight laps.
Ivan Lintin continued his winning form of his first race this time enjoying a start to finish victory by 9.790 seconds from Jamie Hamilton and James Cowton. Manx Grand Prix winners Andy Lawson and James Neeson were fourth and fifth with Paul Gartland taking sixth.
Then followed the first leg of the B Final for the David Jefferies Trophy which gave Neil Kernohan his maiden race victory at Oliver’s Mount by seven seconds from circuit regular Rodger Wibberley and Don Gilbert.
The first of two Sidecar races today followed over six laps. Ian Bell had the pole position but it was arch-rival Conrad Harrison who took the hole-shot but it was Bell who had a 2.4 second lead over Harrison at the end of the first lap with 2014 World Champion Tim Reeves third.
The lead had doubled after a further lap as a dice developed between Harrison and Reeves separated by 0.4 of a second.
Bell retired at the end of the third lap letting Harrison take the lead and went on to win by 7.8 seconds from Reeves with Steve Ramsden third.
Race five was the first leg of the Superbike A Final. Lee Johnston once again got the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin, but again it was Lintin who had the lead at the end of the lap from Johnston and Daley Mathison with John McGuinness fourth with Brian Greenfield and Mick Goodings completing the top six. Then the red flags were displayed.
The restart it was Lintin who got the hole-shot again and who led at the end of the lap from Johnston and Mathison, with Greenfield in front of McGuinness.
A lap later the gap was down to 0.4 of a second between Lintin and Johnston.
And the gap had extended to 1.6 seconds; he then pulled into the paddock to retire at Mere Hairpin.
At the penultimate lap Lintin advantage was over eight seconds over Mathison with McGuinness now third a further seven seconds down on Mathison.
At the chequered flag it was Lintin, Mathison and McGuinness.
Race six, the first leg of the Superbike B Final saw Matthew Rees leading at the end of the first lap of eight from Don Gilbert and Chris Cook.
Positions remained the same a lap later with the gap constant at 0.70 of a second. At the end of the third lap the distance was down to 0.4 of a second with Cook now second and Ryan Farquhar third as Gilbert dropped to fourth.
Lap four – half distance saw Farquhar in front by 1.3 seconds from Rees and Cook.
Lap five and Farquhar’s lead was now 3.4 seconds and was up to 4.5 second at three-quarter distance.
Farquhar took the race win from Chris Cook and Matthew Rees.
The second Sidecar Race of the day saw the battle between Harrison and Reeves continue throughout the six lap race with less than a second separating them on each lap with Harrison holding the advantage to the end by the merest 0.093 of a second with John & Jake Lowther third throughout.
The penultimate race of the day the first leg of the Phil Mellor Trophy saw Paul Owen take the victory from Alistair Haworth and Phil Harvey.
The final race of the day for Classic Superbikes saw Jamie Hamilton take a convincing win over former mentor and sponsor Ryan Farquhar with David Bell third. The winner’s advantage after eight laps was 30.5 seconds!