MORGAN FOX, who is from Athlone but was back from Amiens in France and riding with the Cuchulainn club in Dundalk, was a surprise winner of the National road race championship at Carrick on Suir yesterday.
After 10 laps of a circuit of 11 miles, through Fiddown and Piltown, Fox finished 25 seconds ahead of one of the favourites, David McCann, with Raymond Clarke third another 39 seconds behind.
Fox has been racing with Amiens this season and came home to ride with the Meath team in the Ras. He held the red jersey as leader of the king of the mountains competition in the early stages until a bad crash ended his involvement.
He said he has been second and third on three occasions in recent outings, but this is his first win of the season and, "It was worth waiting for."
Fox and McCann were part of a group of 13 who went away on the first lap. I asked Fox about the move, had he planned it that way? "It was not the number one plan, it just worked out that way. I am used to hard grafting in the races in France, so I reckoned I would last the pace all right."
McCann also came back from his team in France, at Pontivy. He said: "I felt good early on, but then when there was just the two of us left out in front it got harder and I had nothing left in the closing stages.
With Fox and McCann in that early break were Brian Lennon, Paddy Moriarty, Colm Farrell, Adrian Hedderman, Michael Quinn, Joe Barr, Michael Smith, Brendan Graham, Denis Easton, Robert Looby and Michael Somers.
Their lead went to almost two minutes, but then, when only Fox, McCann. Moriarty and Lennon were left out in front, the advantage looked very shaky as some of the leading contenders went in pursuit.
Going out on the last lap Fox and McCann were only 22 seconds ahead of Moriarty and Lennon, who had been joined by Aidan Duff, with Brian Kenneally, Clarke, last year's winner Peter Daly, Ciaran Power and Micheal Fitzgerald closing up too.
However, the leading due resisted the challengers, and then, with three miles to go, McCann could not counter when Fox made his winning surge.
There was a close contest for the team title, with Premier and Cidona locked together on 40 points. Premier had Clarke third, Fitzgerald 11th and Paul Butler 26th, while Cidona's counters were Kenneally fourth, Daly 13th and Eddie O'Donoghue 23rd. The officials ruled in favour of Premier because of Clarke's higher placing.
In the junior title race, over six laps, there was another surprise as Dermot Nally, who is not attached to any club as he only came back from Spain to ride, beat Emmet Hogan, with David McQuaid best in the sprint for the bronze medal.
Nally (16), was born in Cork but has been living in Valencia with his mother, who is from Cork, and his father, who is from outside Castlebar, since he was six years old. He said he does not get much racing in Spain, but has obviously got a lot of talent Hogan won the Mannin Veg race in the Isle of Man a week ago.
. Devon's Jeremy Hunt, based in Spain with the Banesto professional team, overcame a crash 30 miles from the end to snatch the British open road race title over a 140 mile course at Brynmawr, South Wales yesterday. Hunt outsprinted experienced Chesterfield rider Mark Walsham with Cheshire's Malt Stephens and Kent's Dan Smith completing a leading quartet which came in more than a minute clear.
