O’Gorman on a roll with Portimao podium in European Talent Cup action

BY GILES SPENCER
giles@slpmedia.co.uk

Erith motorcycle racer Casey O’Gorman gave his new team something to smile about with an epic ride to second place in round four of the European Talent Cup at Portimao in Portugal last weekend.

The 15 year old started the weekend well topping the practice session before crashing in qualifying but still doing enough to put his Honda NSF250R on the outside of the front row in third.

Unfortunately, a penalty for slow riding in qualifying put O’Gorman to the back of the grid in 30th for the weekend’s only race on Sunday.

Riding for the Superhugo 44 team, O’Gorman got a flying start to move into the top 20 by the end of the first lap of 14.

Barely a lap later and the youngster was into the top ten relishing in the 30 degree temperature.

Ten laps to go and O’Gorman moved into fourth, then briefly into the lead a lap later as a group of eight riders broke away from the chasing pack.

A small mistake dropped O’Gorman to eighth but with seven laps to go he was back in the lead battle.

Two laps left and O’Gorman dived into second into the first corner but dropped back into the pack into the ensuing melee.

Onto the last lap and drama unfolded as Max Quiles, who had pulled a healthy gap, crashed out of a certain victory, opening up the battle for the win.

With four riders in with a shout of the win, no-one was giving an inch and with one corner to go O’Gorman had been bullied back to fourth but with clever race craft the number 67 rider dropped back from the group to get the drive onto the front straight and used the slipstream to rocket into second place by the chequered flag.

The Italians surrounded O’Gorman on the podium with Dodo Boggio taking the win by 0.048 seconds with Guido Pini in third.

Despite crashing out, Quiles leads the championship on 124 points with O’Gorman sitting in twelfth on 29.

The championship resumes on the 14-16 July at Barcelona in Spain.

Photos: @lifebelucky