O’Gorman on the pace but off the podium in Red Bull Rookies Spanish thriller
BY GILES SPENCER
giles@slpmedia.co.uk
Erith teenage motorcycle racer Casey O’Gorman scored two seventh place finishes despite showing race winning pace in round six of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies championship at Motorland Aragon in Spain last weekend.
After a strong showing in practice the 15 year old qualified his 250cc KTM in seventh place to head the third row for the weekend’s two races.
Starting in 25 degree temperature under the Spanish sun for Saturday’s race, O’Gorman (67) got the perfect launch to cross the line in fifth after the first of 15 laps.
As the race settled in, the top seven made a small break from the chasing pack with O’Gorman sitting comfortably, biding his time.
Half race distance and O’Gorman moved up to second but it was still any one of ten riders for the win.
Final lap and O’Gorman had been bumped back to seventh in a complete free for all as is usual with the Rookies but survived attacks from all angles to hold his position to the chequered flag only 0.367 seconds behind winner Rico Salmela.
Away from the lights for Sunday’s race with the sun continuing to shine, O’Gorman kept his starting place of seventh over the first lap, right in the mix for the lead early on before moving up to third a few laps later.
As was the blistering pace of the youngsters, O’Gorman dropped to seventh as the race progressed but with six seconds covering the entire field all bets were off.
Three laps to go and O’Gorman moved into third, then second before dropping as quickly to fourth. With every inch of track covered in KTM orange there was no point of picking a winner until they crossed the line for the final time.
Last lap and O’Gorman found himself in familiar territory as yet again he was bullied back to seventh where he remained to take the flag only 0.351 seconds behind winner Colin Veijer.
O’Gorman sits in 8th place in the championship on 98 points with Spaniard Jose Rueda leading on 202 with one round left to go.
The final round takes place at Valencia in Spain on the 5-6 November.
Photos: Red Bull Rookies Cup
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