Podiums galore for local youngsters

THERE were podiums galore for local youngsters competing in the latest round of the 2022 Irish Minibike Championship season at Whiteriver.

Michael Laverty VisionTrack Academy rider, Lewis Mullen from Newmills dominated the Mini GP140 class, winning all three races, while Cookstown High School pupil, Jack Burrows was also involved at the front end of the action.

Qualifying fifth after machine problems ruined the chances of a good lap, Jack rode to a steady third in race one.
Before race two, the Burrows team made quite a big change to set-up in order to up their pace and Jack managed to compete for second place for a few laps before eventually grabbing another third.

In the third and final race, Jack took the fight for second to the last lap with a brilliant move to secure the runner-up position.
Lewis, meanwhile, was also racing in the Pitbike 140 class, in which he earned three second placed finishes.

Lewis’s sister, Paige, raced in the BamBam class and she picked up a second and two third places on a hugely successful day for the Mullen family.

And Cookstown’s Boyd Knipe was also racing in the BamBam section and the seven year-old enjoyed a thoroughly enjoyable day on his Tag Racing machine, finishing third overall in the class with two fourth places and a superb third placed podium finish,while another local rider, Leon Simpson finished an impressive sixth overall in the class.

There were a host of other Tyrone riders in action on the day, with Cookstown’s Joe Quinn continuing the podium rush by picking up a hat-trick of rostrum finishes in the 140 B races, while Adam McStravog suffered a frustrating and stressful day that resulted in his bike needing a replacement engine after practice. Despite that hassle, the talented youngster managed to finish in the points in the Junior Elite class.

Also in action was Strabane’s Eva Mullen who was ninth overall in the vets class, while Coalisland’s Ryan Coyle claimed seventh overall in the Junior Mini GP class.