A bumper crowd was on hand at a sunny Aberdare Park on Saturday to see 23 time TT winner John McGuinness demonstrate the ART MotoGP bike before announcing he plans to return to the Park in 2016 to race in the National Road Race event.
Heavy rain on Sunday meant that spectator figures were down but those who braved the weather conditions witnessed a remarkable battle for the prestigious Welsh Open title.
Stroud race Dan Cooper was looking for a hat-trick of Welsh titles and, with the result being decided over the aggregate of two races, one each day, the Triumph 675 rider took victory in Saturday’s race.
He added to his achievements later in the afternoon, setting a new 600cc lap record en route to victory in the Park Challenge.
That achievement was eclipsed, however, by Dutch racer Rolend Wobben. Dominating the 50cc category class throughout the weekend on his self-built WRE he took more than 3 seconds off the existing 50cc record for the 0.9 mile circuit with his average speed for the entire race being quicker than the old lap record.
Despite the atrocious weather conditions, Sunday’s race for the Welsh Open title produced a thrilling battle between Cooper and Doncaster rider Mark Goodings on a Kawasaki ZX6.
For lap after lap the pair recorded average speeds approaching 80mph around the streaming wet tarmac that threads its way between the Park’s trees. Eventually the race and overall victory went to Cooper as he headed Goodings home by just half a second.
Other notable achievements included a clean sweep of wins in the junior 125 to 400cc category for Paul ‘Moz’ Owen from Llangollen riding a Honda RS250 while Merthyr Tydfil racer Jay Bellers Smith rounded off a mixed weekend with a win in the very final race, riding a development bike powered by a KTM590 engine.
