Overcast conditions greeted Kilham’s James Cowton and his fellowriders as they prepared for practice for the day one of the 2014 Cock o’the North Continental Road Races at Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough.
The start was delayed after an incident during the sidecar qualifying – a blown engine resulted in an oil-slick and add in a couple of intermittent showers and racing got underway two hours later than scheduled.
Race One was the Senior A Final, first leg for machines up to 1300cc over six laps, down two from the original distance due to the delay.
Dean Harrison had pole position after qualifying and got the hole-shot ahead of Daley Mathison into Mere Hairpin.
By the end of lap two, Cowton was fourth, but Mathison slipped off on the fourth lap, promoting Cowton to third - some 25 seconds off the leader Harrison - a position he held for the rest of the race.
Race three was the opening leg of the SuperTwins. Cowton took the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin, but it was Harrison in front at the end of the lap with Cowton second and James Neesom third .
Then the red flag appeared and the restart was over five laps. Once again it was Cowton who got the hole-shot, but by the end of the second lap Harrison took the lead,
The chequered flag gave Harrison his second victory of the day ahead of Craig Shirlaw and Neesom followed by James Cowton, Adrian Harrison and Keith Pringle.
In race five, the Junior 600cc A Final first leg, Cowton was half a second ahead of Mathison at the end of the opening lap.
Lap three saw Harrison take the lead and he extended his lead to 4.5 seconds by the end.
Cowton was third in race seven, the second leg of the SuperTwins, as Harrison continued his good form.
After overnight rain the sun broke through the clouds in time for the untimed practice prior to the start of Sunday’s racing.
Race 11 was the third leg of the SuperTwins. Cowton was off the pace in third whe the leader Harrison slipped off on the seventh lap at Memorial, but he was too far behind Lintin, who took over at the front, and was second 18 seconds down.
Cowton led race 14, the Supersport A second leg, but by halfway Harrison had established a six-second lead.
By lap six, Harrison’s lead was 9.5 seconds, but Cowton was now under pressure from Dan Frear. He kept the one second difference between them as Harrison continued on his way to his second victory of the day.
In the Cock o’the North Feature Race. Lintin had pole position for the eight-lap race.
But Harrison took the lead early and at the halfway mark, Cowton was high-sided, letting Lintin into third place.
Dean Harrison took the chequered flag retaining the trophy he won for the first time in 2013. Lintin was second and Lee Johnston took the final podium spot.
Cowton got the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin for the final solo race of the day, the SuperTwins 4th Leg, with Harrison having pulled off the grid at the end of the warm-up lap.
At the end of the lap it was Cowton, Lintin and Frear, with only 0.3 of a second separating first and second, but by lap three Lintin was at the head of the field by 1.7 seconds with Frear still in third.
By lap five and the advantage had grown to 3.4 seconds, with another two seconds being added at the end of the sixth lap.
Lap seven saw no changes and at the flag it was Lintin in front of Cowton and Frear
All in all, Cowton had a great weekend, putting in some great performances and gaining some very respectable results.
The Cowton Team head to Northern Ireland this weekend to compete in The Armouy Road Races,