Costello Makes Skerries Grid In Eleventh Hour

Image by Karl Ellis

 

Maria Costello MBE returned to the Irish road racing scene this weekend, taking 11^th place in the Full Factory Winnerswear Supertwins race at the AXA Bikecare Skerries 100 on her European Shoe Machinery Company/Hol-Taj backed Kawasaki ER6 ‘Pizza race bike’. 

 

Despite some showers earlier in the day the Supertwins race took place in dry conditions and Costello completed the 8 lap race in 11^th place. Starting from 14^th on the grid, Maria took tenth position for a short while but arm pump relegated her back to eleventh at the chequered flag. 

 

The lack of practice, with just five controlled laps done in wet conditions on the Saturday (the same for all competitors) wasn’t ideal, but preparation for the event had hardly been plain sailing for Costello, who had bike trouble and was still nursing an injury picked up at the Northwest 200 meeting in May. Maria explained: “I didn’t think I was going to be at Skerries. Firstly, we had a problem with the bike and it wasn’t until the 11^th hour that we managed to solve it and make the ferry to reach Skerries in time for qualifying on Saturday. Special thanks go to Tony Morris of CMS and Simon Bleasdale for their time and effort put in to get the bike onto the grid.”

 

“The positives are that I'd managed a pretty tough training session prior to the event with Richard Griffin - he works with the likes of James Hillier, Chris Walker and James Ellison. That gave me both a physical and mental boost. I’m hoping he’s going to be a huge part of my season going forward. So, I can take that, and the fact that the leg was less painful with me to the Race of the South at Walderstown where I will be fighting for sure.” added a smiling Maria.

 

Maria is in confident mood about the upcoming event and is relishing spending extra time in Ireland, at the picturesque St Marks Lakeshore accommodation in Glasson, during the run up to Walderstown ‘Race of the South’ which takes place on Saturday 12^th and Sunday 13^th July.

 

Special thanks go to: Tony Morris, Simon Bleasdale, Daryll Young, Keith, Donna & the Costello family, Kev Corbally, Gary O’Brien, Chris Mooney, the Loughshinny Motorcycle Club, Locktons Motorsport Insurance & Discovery Travel.