'08 Athea Road Races

The Athea road races saw another successful days racing for the McKinstry racing team.

Ivan Lintin broke the old circuit lap record on his way to a superb podium finish on the McKinstry racing TZ250 Yamaha. Who said the big fireman couldn't ride a 250? Ivan also had a 10th in the Superbike race on the Barron Transport Suzuki.

In the 750 support championship Mike 'Jack' Russell finished fourth with Jules Croft not far behind in 6th, then in the non-championship support race Jack Russell took the win with Jules improving to 5th.

'08 Bush Road Races

McKinstry racing's riders all had two races at a weather curtailed Bush Road races near Dungannon. In the Junior support race Mike Russell got the spectators tongues wagging as he rode a naked, flat barred, Kawasaki ER6 to a brilliant second place finish on his debut. Jules Croft also had a run out in this race on the little JML/McKinstry racing Kawasaki ZXR400 and finished a fine 5th.

The same pairing were also out in the Senior support championship race with Jules taking the final podium spot in 3rd whilst Mike finished 8th.

Ivan Lintin also had two races finishing 6th in the GP250 race on the McKinstry racing Yamaha, the first Yamaha finisher in the race. Ivan also had a fine 10th place finish on the Barron Transport superbike in the non-championship Open race.

Clubmans GP125 Newcomers update

McKinstry racing are assisting two young riders in the Irish Clubmans short circuit championships by preparing their RS125 Honda race bikes and giving them advice where needed. The two riders are Scott Wilson and Karen Hadden. At the most recent clubmans championship at Mondello Park on the 15th of June Scott took two wins from two starts to extend his championship lead. Karen continues to show signs of improvement and took a podium in the opening race but unfortunately slid out of third in the second race whilst closing down the second placed rider.

'08 Cookstown 100

Team McKinstry racing's road race season got underway at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough a week previous but that was just a warm up for the serious competition of chasing championships at home in Ireland. The Cookstown 100 is the annual season opener and qualifying some some pretty horrendous weather conditions. However the sun came out for race day itself and all of the team's riders did the team proud with their results in all their races.

Despite winning the 2007 junior support championship and finishing runner-up in the senior support championship, Ivan Lintin was a debutant to the Orritor circuit this year for his first season racing outside the support classes. Ivan riding the Barron Transport Suzuki took a few laps in the Senior non-qualifiers race to weigh up leader Paul Lennon before passing him and then go on to win the race comfortably. Earlier in the day Ivan had an even better result when he finished 5th on the McKinstry racing TZ250 Yamaha.

Mike Russell making his Irish Road Race debut in the support championships warmed up with a solid 11th place finish in the Junior Support 'A' class on the McKinstry racing JML 400cc Kawasaki racing against the more powerful 650cc Suzuki twins.

Mike was out again later in the day in the Senior support 'B' class on the McKinstry racing Suzuki GSXR750 and he had a start to finish win.

In the 750 Support 'A' championship race Jules Croft demonstrated his pedigree by riding to fourth despite starting in the second wave of riders.

Scarborough Spring Cup

McKinstry racing team riders Ivan Lintin, Mike Russell and Jules Croft all made an appearance at Scarborough for the Ian Watson Spring Cup and each rider got some strong finishes for the team in all their races, the highlight being win for Ivan Lintin in the 600 B final, first leg.

Jules Croft showed that he can be a force to be reckoned with this season in the Irish road race support championship when he beat the 2007 Irish road race support champion in the 600B final to finish fourth, one place behind Lintin, with team mate Mike Russell in sixth.

Pre season

After a successful 2007 season Billy has been busy over the winter months recruiting the right riders to bring even more success to the team in the year ahead, whilst also prepping all the race bikes ready for another assault on the Irish road race championships.