The best of Ireland’s National and International Motorcycle Racers were on hand in Belfast last Friday for the biggest night of the Irish Motorcycle Racing year, the Adelaide Motorcycle Awards. The event honours the achievements of Irish riders and teams along with the announcement of the Race of the Year which for the first time was awarded to a round of the Adelaide Masters Series. The short list for the award included two World Superbike races and two of the best events from the International Road Race calendar, but it was the Masters first trip to Bishopscourt which was the unanimous choice of the judges. The award was presented to Marshall Neill for his stunning last gasp victory in the Grand Final at August’s Bishopscourt event. On his return to the Adelaide Insurance backed series, Neill rode a stunning race along with four other riders who all finished within 0.6 of a second. The lead swapped between all five riders a number of times, with Cody Nally at the head of the bunch starting the last lap. In the second half of that final lap the race was turned on its head as positions swapped at every corner. In the shake up Nally was dumped back to fourth while Neill won a drag race from the final corner with Lee Johnston to win by 0.021 of a second, the closest finish in Adelaide Masters history. The performances of Neill, Johnston, Nally, Brian McCormack and David Haire were judged to have produced a better race than Eugene Laverty’s sensational Portuguese World Superbike win, Jonny Rea’s last corner victory at Donington’s World Superbike round and the best races from the Ulster Grand Prix and North West 200. The announcement of the award was warmly received by the attendance of over 500 guests who heard Marshall Neill praise the series saying “the Masters is a brilliant championship and the riders are always made very welcome by the organisers”. Earlier in the evening Brian McCormack had been presented with the Adelaide Masters Series trophies for both the Superbike and Supersport classes, as he became the first rider to lift both titles in a single year. McCormack was presented with his award by Mondello Park MD John Morris and Adelaide Insurance Services founder Sam Geddis. The 2013 Adelaide Masters Series will be launched at the Adelaide Motorcycle Festival in Belfast which will run from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of February.
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Adelaide Masters beats World Superbikes to Race of the Year Award
