Mark Dowling entered the Wexford Two-Day but after a crash forced him out of contention he withdrew from the race, headed to Co Down for the final event of the national series and came away with the win. It wasn't enough to stop runner-up on the day Sean Lacey (Aquablue) from being crowned overall champion (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Mark Dowling (ASEA-Wheelworx) has added another win to his season tally after claiming victory in the North Down GP in Co Down this afternoon.
The A1-A2-A3 bunch faced a 144-kilometre contest and the opening lap saw a flurry of action, though nothing meaningful stuck.
Among the aggressors were Sean Lacey (Aquablue), the ASEA-Wheelworx pair of Roger Aiken and Marcus Christie, David Hamilton of the host club and Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles, Omagh).
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On the next lap Aiken, Dowling and Moore broke away while a chase group formed behind.
In that second group were Sean Lacey (Team Aquablue), Eoin Morton and Ian Richardson (UCD-Fitzcycles.ie), Keith Phillips (North Down CC), Cian Delaney (Stamullen RC), Jake Gray, Cameron McIntyre (NRPT-Magnet.ie) and a number of others.
Those two front groups merged on the fourth lap, leaving a large breakaway of around a dozen riders up the road.
The hard pace being set by that leading selection split the race into pieces behind with at least three different groups all trying to stay in contention.
The attacking continued unabated up ahead with several twos and threes forging clear but none of those moves got any significant time.
Inside the 20-kilometre to go mark and it was Morton and Lacey who eventually went clear with Dowling and Christopher McGlinchey (ChainReactionCycles) in hot pursuit.
The latter two bridged to Lacey and Morton on the last climb, with McGlinchey doing superbly to be in contention after riding a 25-mile time-trial earlier in the day.
The leading quartet pulled out a gap of a minute and coming into the three-kilometre to-go marker, Dowling struck out.
That put Lacey under pressure but he managed to get back on, though Dowling was gone solo up the road apparently on the way to a lone victory.
He held the gap very well for a period but then looked like he’d burnt his matches when he was caught by the chasing trio, provoking Lacey into an attack.
The Aquablue man looked like he’d done enough to win, only for Dowling to fight back to take it with Morton finishing third.
Sun, Aug 21st: North Down GP
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A1-A2-A3 Race (90 miles)
1 Mark Dowling (ASEA-Wheelworx)
2 Sean Lacey (Aquablue)
3 Eoin Morton (UCD-Fitzcycles.ie)
4 Christopher McGlinchey (Chain Reaction Cycles)
5 Keith Phillips (North Down CC)
6 Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles, Omagh)
7 Cameron McIntyre (NRPT.ie)
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8 Jake Gray (NRPT.ie)
9 Ian Richardson (UCD-Fitzcycles.ie)
10 David Hamilton (North Down CC)
11 Cian Delaney (Stamullen RC)
12 Ryan Reilly (Foyle CC)
A4 race
1 David Spalding North Down CC
2 Josh Daly VC Iveagh
3 John Hughes Clogher Valley Wheelers
4 Richard Annett VC Mourne
5 Aaron Dickie Ballymoney CC
6 Robin Wilson Ards CC
7 Ciarán Donnelly Termon Wheelers
8 Darryl Northrop Phoenix CC
9 David Heaney Maryland Wheelers
10 David Costello Shannonside CC
M50 race
1 Willy GillArds CC
2 Noel Boyce North Down CC
3 Benny O'Kane Square Wheelers CC
4 Finbarr Dooey Dunloy CC
5 Geoff Garrett Phoenix CC
6 Brian Doherty Bann Wheelers
7 Michael Crowe North Down CC
8 Paul Kirk North Down CC
First unplaced lady: Julie Mulligan Strule Wheelers
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