Robin Kelly, third from right, on his way to winning in Kildare. He said Tim Barry and Ciaran Power had "drilled it into" him to race smarter this season (Photo by Sean Rowe, homepage photo by Damien Jackson)
By Brian Canty
Though lacking many of the country’s big hitters, Robin Kelly (Waterford Racing Team) was no less delighted to win his third Ned Flanagan Memorial race in Monasterevin yesterday.
The traditional season-opener lacks the distance of the likes of the Shay Elliott Memorial or the climbs of the Des Hanlon, but its status as the season opener ensures a very tough contest.
“It’s brilliant to win and I’m very proud but I’m not getting carried away,” a modest Kelly said after the race.
“I don’t want to be known as this guy who wins one race at the start of the season and nothing else.”
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The former Aquablue CC man said he went into the race with a different approach in mind; to be conservative as opposed to aggressive.
“I like to go out and attack and attack and attack and more often than not I’m probably setting it up for others,” he said.
The winning breakaway was quite big, but Kelly said it worked hard. Keith Finn leads the way (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“But this year, and Timmy (Barry) and Ciaran Power have been trying to drill it into me; they said ‘if I raced more you’d win more’.
“So I went in today and I said I had six matches to burn and I knew the more I had left in my legs coming to the finish the better I’d be.
“The plan was for Keith to get up the road and not to worry about me,” he said referring to his team mate and national vets’ champion Keith Gater.
“I sat last man on the road for the first 8k."
The break had managed to escape by then with all eight who made the results present, with the eventual winner last across to the move.
“I looked up and saw there were seven up the road and they’d around 25 seconds,” he explained.
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The chase group headed by MODA Kingdom Endurance riders John Brosnan and Mark Nolan (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“It looked like they were going away so I took off, sprinted as hard as I could for as long as I could and got across.
“I got over to the back of it, took a break to get my breath but it was a really honest break. Everyone pulled in it.”
But then the real jumping started; with Kelly going away with Simon Ryan (Mego Racing Team).
“We were coming in through the Curragh and knew we were coming towards a bit of a hill, up towards the hardest part of the course.
“Joe (Fenlon) and Simon pushed it on over the descent and I was in their wheel and I was going around the corners really slowly.
“I let the wheels go and said I’d see what the others behind me would do.
Kelly took a number of wins for Aquablue over the past couple of seasons and is in the groove again having moved back to Waterford Racing Team during the off season (Photo: Dave O’Brien Photography)
“The two lads were pulling away and Keith tried to get across.
“I said to myself if they left him go he’d get across and if he was caught I’d counter.”
When Gater’s move came to nothing, Kelly made his move and got across to the leading pair of Ryan and Fenlon.
Once the juncture was made, the leading three hit a tailwind section and drove for home.
However, three became two when Fenlon crashed, leaving Kelly and Ryan to race to the finish where a two-up sprint settled first and second.
Promising young rider Keith Finn (Lakeside Wheelers) rounded out the podium.
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