Clarke takes T Bourke Midsummer Race 2014

 
Paddy Clarke of Liquidworks-Fitscience team has won the Tom Bourke Midsummer Race which was held in Westport on Saturday evening. On a perfect night for racing Clarke proved strongest from a five man escape also containing David Nugent of Seven Springs, Richard Meaney and James McGreevy of the host club Westport Covey Wheelers and Valerio DiBacco of Galway Bay CC.
 
Starting in a large scratch group Clarke along with team mate Jason Prendergast, Nugent and Anthony Murray of Subaru Albion broke away and bridged the two minute gap to the A3 group at around the halfway point. The race was now being led by some of the A4 bunch which had fractured on the lumpy parcours. Some hard riding at this point shook up the chase bunch leaving the four scratch men and around ten others from the A3 group. The last of the A4 riders were caught with about 25 km to go which sparked off a series of attacks and counter attacks. This went on until around the 16km to go mark, at which point it looked as though the whole race would once again regroup due to the uncohesive nature of the riding from the leaders. David Nugent finally succeeded in getting a gap, and in the process he took the sprint prime too. Richard Meaney of Westport was next to go followed by club mate McGreevy. These two worked well and were joined by Clarke, before bridging the gap to Nugent. A strong effort by Valerio Di Bacco saw him ride solo across the gap.
 

 
These five worked well together for the remainder of the race, pulling a gap of over two minutes on the group behind. In the end it came down to a five way sprint for the line with Clarke edging Nugent for first and McGreevy pipping team mate Meaney for third and DiBacco running in fifth. Liam Corcoran of Castlebar CC lead in the bunch for sixth place.
 
Race results:
 
1. Paddy Clarke Liquidworks-Fitscience
2. David Nugent Seven Springs
3. James McGreevy Westport Covey Wheelers
4. Richard Meaney Westport Covey Wheelers
5. Valerio Di Bacco Galway Bay CC
6. Liam Corcoran Castlebar CC
7. Michael Devins Unattached
8. Chris Troy Castlebar CC
 
Unplaced A3. Paul Dunne Ballina CC
Unplaced A4. David Hanahoe Westport Covey Wheelers
Unplaced Junior. Steven Murphy Cunga
First Lady. Noreen O Toole Westport Covey Wheelers
KOH. Sean Hastings Westport Covey Wheelers
Sprint Prime. David Nugent Seven Springs
 

Report by James McGreevy.