“It feels like it should be illegal doing what you are doing on the roads.” Emmet O’Grady’s road racing debut at the Northwest 200
Tralee motorcycle racer Emmet O’Grady has already experienced his first laps of a closed road motorcycle race.
O’Grady will make his race debut at the North West 200 this week. The Derry event is the biggest motorcycle road race in the world outside the Isle of Man TT.
He has entered has borrowed fellow Tralee man Darragh Crean’s SuperTwin Aprilia after his own Supersport 600cc Honda was not ready on time,
His week got underway with a Newcomers registration and briefing on Monday.
Newcomers got their first taste of the Portrush-Portstewart-Coleraine track on Tuesday morning when the first official practice session got underway.
It was wet and O’Grady waited and waited for a dry window.
It never came and the session was cut from one hour to half an hour.
He managed two laps in the wet, but will get another chance on Thursday morning ahead of his first race on Thursday evening.
“Today was patchy, dry, wet and everything in between, we were quick to be honest, a lot quicker than most SuperTwins. Then I stayed in the garage for a while as it was drying up.
“It was cut to half an hour so I went out, managed to get two laps in, we timed it wrong, it started to rain again everyone else had gone out on wet (tyres) before me, it didn’t come to us,” he told Kerry Motorsport News
“I managed P22 which, I suppose, for the first time ever, I am happy out, we should improve on Thursday, we should be in the top 15 all going well, come Thursday morning, all-in-all in good company, happy with the bike, team are doing great, but it feels like it should be illegal doing what we are doing on the roads.”
His team includes local motorcycle race mechanic Der Rahilly and fellow Tralee racer Darragh Crean. A large group of Kerry-based Mondello Park regulars have travelled north for the event.
O’Grady’s first race is scheduled for Thursday evening in the four-lap Milltown Service Station Supertwin race.
Saturday is the big day at the Northwest 200 and again he will race in the four lap J.M Paterson Supertwin Race which is the third race of the day.
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Kerry Motorsport News 