O’Gorman dealt double blow in cruel turn of events in Barcelona for JuniorGP
BY GILES SPENCER
giles@slpmedia.co.uk
Erith motorcycle racer Casey O’Gorman is wondering where all his luck has gone as another great performance ended with little to show in round three of the FIM JuniorGP World Championship in Barcelona at the weekend.
Qualifying started off well for the 16 year old on the Catalan track as he put his 250cc Honda on the front row of the grid in second behind Spaniard Adrian Cruces for Sunday’s two races.
However, his luck took a turn for the worse as his bike cut out due to fuelling issues as the pack pulled away for the warm-up lap, leaving the youngster frantically pushing his bike back to the pits to try and re-start his stricken machine.
Starting a long way back from pit lane a win or even a podium was realistically out of the window with the best case scenario being a point or two if he didn’t put a wheel wrong in the 15 lap race.
Try as he might though, it was too big an ask for O’Gorman as he finished at the back with nothing to show for it after pushing hard throughout the race, with Jesus Rios taking the win from Marcus Uriarte and pole man, Cruces.
Taking up his original grid spot for the second race O’Gorman made amends for race one as he slotted into third as they peeled into the first corner.
Despite missing the experience of battling with the leading pack in race one, O’Gorman quickly got up to speed, challenging for the lead at every opportunity.
A third of the race down and the top 14 were covered by one second with O’Gorman still in the thick of things at the head of the pack.
As the race entered the second half the lead was changing almost every corner in typical JuniorGP fashion with anyone in the leading group capable of winning.
Four laps to go and O’Gorman took the lead but it was short lived as Max Quiles demoted the Irishman to second as they entered the next lap with the clock counting down quickly.
Penultimate lap and the pace and aggression on track started to heat up with bikes and elbows flying.
O’Gorman held his nerve to momentarily re-take the lead before being swamped into the first corner as they entered the final lap.
Fighting back to third, almost instantly O’Gorman was tagged by another rider, dropping him back to eighth and in the battle to get back the the pointy end the number 67 rider was side swiped by a crashing rider sending him hurtling into the gravel trap where he managed to keep the machine on two wheels to rejoin and take the final point in 15th with Alaro Carpe taking the win.
O’Gorman has dropped to tenth in the championship on 25 points, 57 behind new leader Uriarte on 82.
The next round of the championship is at PortimĂŁo in Portugal on the 22-23 June.
Photos: @Lifebelucky
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