Rain greeted the riders on Saturday morning for the North West 200, but fortunately by the time the first race set off down Primrose Hill the track was almost completely dry. After his problems in practice Davy found himself in the middle of the second group of riders in 32nd place on the Strangford Holiday Park GSXR1000 Suzuki. The race was cut to four laps due to the earlier delays and after a solid start Davy found himself in 23rd at the end of the opening lap. As he upped his speed considerably on lap two he had moved himself up to 16th and only two seconds adrift of what would be an impressive top fifteen finish. He upped his lap time again on the third lap, but was still just outside the top fifteen, then on his final lap he did another fastest lap at 114.238mph and moved himself up to 15th overall, second in his group and the sixth local rider across the finish line. Not too shabby for a privateer team on a limited budget.

Next up was the Supersport Race and conditions were almost perfect as he took the CSC Branson R6 Yamaha to the grid. It was again a solid start, this time from the front row of the second group and at the end of the opening lap was in 21st place overall. He found himself in a real battle throughout the race with Wylie and Buckley and as in the earlier superbike race he continued to improve his lap times as the race progressed and fought his way to the front of his group and at the flag a very creditable 17th place finish and again the sixth local rider home.

The CSC Branson R1 Superstock Yamaha was next down to the strat line and with a dinstinct lack of top speed and a few handling issues it was going to be difficult. A few adjustments had been made since practice and depending on how these affected the handling, would depend on how far Davy got. From the back of the second group (40th) Davy set off and despite the handling issues that had not been resolved he was up to 35th at the end of the opening lap, 30th on lap two, he continued to progress and was up to 28th on lap three and set his fastest lap of the race on his final circuit to pull himself up to 24th at the chequered flag. It was hard work and the team knows that for the TT more improvements will be required.

For the final outing of the day it was back onto the Strangford Holiday Park Suzuki for the feature NW200 Superbike Race. As in the previous races Davy got quicker and quicker as the race progressed and moved up the field throughout the race from 32nd on the grid to 20th at the end of the opening lap, 18th on lap three and on his final lap he set his fastest lap of the week, five seconds quicker than in race one at 116.208mph to pull himself to 17th place and another impressive ride and finish.

Four starts, four finishes, three off them in the top twenty is a very satisfying days work for the Davy Morgan Racing Team. Against a fleet of top riders on works, semi-works bikes and others with a lot bigger financial budgets and most with some sort of tyre deal from the manufacturers. Davy rode hard and now looks forward to the TT with a positive mind and build on all the hard work and effort of everyone involved with the team during the past week.

Speaking on Saturday evening a satisfied Davy commented, "Its been a good day, i can now head to the TT in a positive frame of mind for the first time in a few years as we have not had the best of luck here prevously. I am really pleased with how the CSC Branson R6 and Strangford Holiday Park GSXR are going and handling, they are close to perfect. I want to thank Steve and Trevor for supporting me and i hope they enjoyed today as much as i did. The Superstock R1 will need more work before the TT as it is not handling right and is really hard work, but hopefully we will get there. The races went really well and i had good fun out there and with three top twenty finishes and a twenty-fourth in the other from fortieth on the grid, it is a good return for us when you look at the machinery and budgets of most of the teams ahead of me. I want to thank everyone for their help, work and support during the week, they are too many to name, but you know who you are - Thankyou."

"I especially want to thank Steve (CSC Branson) and Trevor (Strangford Holiday Park) for providing me with the excellent bikes, Zero One Race FX for the top quality presentation of all aspects of the team, my supporters club for their continued financial help and Arai for their excellent work keeping my helmets in A1 condition throughout practice and racing. Without you all Davy Morgan Racing would not be on track. See you all on the Isle of Man."

pic : Stephen Wilson

pic : Joe Connolly