Andreas Racing Association held its only two-day race meeting of the year on the Jurby circuit at the end of Southern 100 week.

Saturday started in a really positive way with five new riders taking part in the race school, including 14-year-old Toby Melvin, son of multiple Isle of Man Centre ACU sidecar champion Craig, and 15-year-old Connor Percival.

A real highlight of the meeting was seeing so many sidecars out on track in the Northern Fuels-sponsored Open 1300cc Sidecar Centre Championship races, including the likes of double TT winners Ryan and Callum Crowe.

Competing on the anti-clockwise course, Luke Blevins produced a dominant win in the Single, Twin, Triple class,

The leading contenders were next out in the Swagelok Open 1300cc Solo Centre Championship race. Ryan Cringle took the win by 1.823 seconds from Rory Parker, with Jamie Cringle third.  The first sidecar race saw previous Southern 100 champion Tony Baker take the honours with Dave Ryder from fellow visitors Alun Thomas/Kenny Cole.

In the Palace Hotel and Casino Supersport race saw the first of many battles between Kyle Casement and Southern 100 debutee/600cc support race winner Grant Thomson, the latter winning. The Lightweight, CB500 and Singles race was red-flagged after two riders had a coming together, a result which there was a delay to proceedings as Jack Robertson was conveyed to hospital. He did not suffer any fractures.

Once racing resumed, Francesco Faraldo continued his fantastic form by winning the Singles class, Cameron Brown was the first CB500 rider home after a close contest with Will Cornell. The winning margin was 0.3 of a second with Juan Hunter a close third. Lex Geval took his first ever race win in the Pre-injection class.

Faraldo dominated the novice/clubman race. Sunday’s racing was on the clockwise version of the 1.7-mile track, a number of the riders and teams staying overnight to enjoy ARA’s annual BBQ.

TT top-10 finisher Mikey Evans won the first race of the day, putting his Post-Classic Suzuki Superbike through its paces in advance of the MGP.

Ryan Cringle beat his brother Jamie by a fraction under three seconds in the Centre championship race, with Parker third.

The Crowe brothers won the first sidecar race from Michael Russell and Jake Roberts, with Thomas/Cole third.

Thomson and Casement were neck-and-neck again in the Supersport event, this time with a mere 0.12s between them, with Freddie Craine third.

Faraldo again dominated the Singles and Clubman’s classes with four wins on the day and a new lap record of 1m 10.73s.

The second sidecar race saw Russell and Roberts pull out with mechanical issues, leaving a close battle on track with Thomas/Cole taking the win by 0.292 of a second over Baker/Ryder, with reigning Centre champions Jim and Ben Gale less then a second behind in third.

Matthew Corkill had another fantastic end to his weekend when taking the wins in the Pre-injection 600cc class. Jason Corcoran took the Post-classic Championship and 16-year-old Aron Redmond the second Supertwin race of the day. The final solo Centre championship race was a spectacle with the Cringle brothers really going for it. Jamie was less than 0.3 of a second behind the whole of the race but he just couldn’t make it past his elder sibling, although he did set the fastest lap of the day with a 1m 04.996s.

Parker was again third, meaning that only four points separate the two Cringles and Parker going into the series finale on September 15.  

There is an ARA test day on August 11 followed by Jurby Day on Sunday, August 25 (during the MGP weekend), with another test day on September 14 before the final club and Centre races the following day.

LEE BARTRAM