Ulster GP - UK racing back to the public roads

Racing in the UK returned to public roads for the first time this year last weekend as the Ulster GP seems to be the only big 'road' racing event in the UK this year after all the other regular events were abandoned due to the foot and mouth disease crisis.

Held on the famous Dundrod circuit, Welshman Ian Lougher and Yorkshire's David Jefferies battled it out between the hedges and telegraph poles of the open roads during the SuperBike race with Lougher taking the victory by 2 seconds.

It was a similar story in the Imperial Tobacco 600cc Regal race, with Jefferies having his first outing of the season on the V&M Racing R6 Yamaha and locking in battle with Irish favourite Adrian Archibald, and Lougher. Jefferies again was involved in a frantic dice all the way to the finish, taking the chequered flag just three seconds behind Archibald after fifty-one miles of high-speed racing.

The premier race of the meeting - the Stannifer Snoddens Open Class event was badly affected by the weather, and as rain started falling the race was reduced from eight to five laps. Jefferies held the lead for the opening two laps, but as the conditions worsened Adrian Archibald started to edge ahead, with the Yorkshireman opting to settle for a safe second place finish.

"I decided that caution was the better part of valour," said Jefferies. "The conditions in the final Superbike race were pretty awful, and the bike was wheel spinning everywhere, I just wanted to bring rider and bike home in one piece. It was great fun to race on the roads again though, roll on next year when we can race again at the TT and North West as well."

Ian Lougher lost control of his machine in the terrible conditions and the bike smashed to pieces on impact with a telegraph pole but the resultant flying missiles unfortunately fatally injured a flag marshal.