Podium for O’Gorman in JuniorGP championship in Portugal

BY GILES SPENCER
giles@slpmedia.co.uk

Erith motorcycle racer Casey O’Gorman finally got the results he deserved this season in the FIM JuniorGP championship with a third place in the first race in Portimao over the weekend.

The 16 year old Team Estrella Galicia 00 rider made a solid start to the weekend, placing his 250cc Honda on the front row in second place for the two races on Sunday.

Away from the lights for race one in scorching conditions and O’Gorman made a solid start to slot into second place into the first corner with Alvero Carpe taking an early lead for the first lap of 15.

As they entered lap two a seven rider group had already broken away from the pack with O’Gorman losing a place down the long straight to drop to third.

Twelve laps to go and O’Gorman swept into the lead and just as quickly lost it again as the now pack of nine, swarmed all over each other.

The lead was changing several times a lap but O’Gorman was consistently in the top three and looking strong.

Four laps in and drama unfolded as second placed Cormac Buchanan tried his best to launch himself into the stratosphere, scattering the riders behind him and allowing leader Carpe to escape to the tune of around a second.

Mid race and Carpe had lost the lead to a flying Guido Pini with O’Gorman in third but the trio had pulled a gap of nearly two seconds as they crossed the line for another time.

Six laps to go and the top three were a second a lap faster than the chasing pack and it looked like it was between the three teenagers to decide the podium positions.

With only four laps left the top three were a safe 4.6 seconds in front of the rest of the riders but O’Gorman had dropped off the back of Carpe in second.

Last lap and O’Gorman had backed off to take his first podium of the season in the safest third in JuniorGP you’ll ever see with Spaniard Carpe snatching victory on the line from the Italian Pini.

Race two and O’Gorman couldn’t repeat his earlier start, slotting into fifth into turn one before dropping to sixth as they crossed the line for the first time of asking.

As with race one, the top six had already pulled a second gap on the chasing pack with O’Gorman moving into fourth as they entered lap three.

Twelve laps to go and O’Gorman hit second place for the first time in the race but with the pack swapping places and paint almost every corner, it was pointless to look any deeper into it.

Approaching half race distance and Carpe hit the front for the first time but O’Gorman was hanging in there like an ever present thorn in his side.

Five laps left and race one podium finisher Pini had started to spread the pack out with O’Gorman starting to drop off the top four as he dropped to sixth a lap later, 1.2 seconds off the leader.

With only two laps left O’Gorman was too far detached from the leading group to hope for a podium but had a fight on his hands if he wanted to claim a top five finish.

Across the line for the final time to take the flag and Pini took the victory from Max Quiles with Carpe third and O’Gorman just got pipped to the line by the flying Fin Rico Salmela to take 6th place 4.292 seconds off the win.

The results have increased O’Gorman’s points to 51 in the championship, 39 behind new leader Carpe.

The next round of the championship will be  held in Jerez in Spain on the 14-15 September.

Photos: @Lifebelucky and teamestrellagalicia