Conor Cummins
Encyclopedia
Conor Cummins is a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 motorcycle
Motorcycle racing
Motorcycle sport is a broad field that encompasses all sporting aspects of motorcycling. The disciplines are not all "races" or timed-speed events, as several disciplines test a competitor's various riding skills.-Motorcycle racing:...

 racer. Conor rides extensively on the British Road Racing Circuit competing in the British Superstock Championship as well as his home event the Isle of Man TT
Isle of Man TT
The International Isle of Man TT Race is a motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man and was for many years the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world...

.

Early career

Cummins began his career riding in the British Championship and the Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is a brand used by many mobile phone service providers across the globe; its headquarters are based in the United Kingdom. Virgin Mobile has local operations in Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Greece, United Kingdom and the United States. It briefly also had operations...

 Yamaha R6 Cup. However the lack of opportunities in these competitions led him to decide to make the switch to Road Racing.

2006

Cummins picked up awards as the Fastest Newcomer at the North West 200, the Southern 100 and the Isle of Man TT
2006 Isle of Man TT
The 99th anniversary Isle of Man TT Festival ran between Saturday 27 May and Friday 9 June on the 37.73-mile Mountain Course. The first week is known as the practice week, before the real action commenced on 3 June. There were 6 races in TT week. John McGuinness broke the lap record during...

. Cummins also won the Newcomers Race at the Ulster Grand Prix
Ulster Grand Prix
The Ulster Grand Prix is a motorcycle road race that takes place on the Dundrod Circuit near Belfast, Northern Ireland. The first races took place in 1922 and in 1935 and 1948 the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme gave it the title Grand Prix d'Europe...

.

2007

In 2007 Cummins became both Irish Superbike Road Race Champion and Irish Superstock Road Race Champion in a season that saw him record 13 Irish National Road Race wins. He finished second in 2 races at the Ulster Grand Prix as well as scoring a podium finish in the British Superbike Cup riding as a wildcard at Donington. At the Isle of Man TT
2007 Isle of Man TT
The 2007 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy was the Centenary event which ran between 26 May and 8 June 2007. The first event was held on Tuesday 28 May 1907 and was called the International Auto-Cycle Tourist Trophy run by the Auto-Cycle Club on the St...

 Conor produced a series of sensational performances to record four Top 8 finishes including two 5th places. Also during the Superstock Race Conor claimed the record for the fastest local Isle of Man competitor after lapping at 18 minutes and 10.78 seconds from a standing start on lap 1. For all his success Conor claimed the Duke Road Race Rankings Champion.

2008

For 2008 Cummins rode for Team VanFit Yamaha in the British Superstock Championship, starting with a third place at Oulton Park. He also rode at the North West 200
2008 North West 200
The 2008 North West 200 took place on Saturday 17 May at the 8.966 mile circuit, dubbed "The Triangle", based around the towns of Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart, in Northern Ireland. The meeting was overshadowed by the death of Northern Irish rider Robert Dunlop, the record-holder for...

 but mechanical problems destroyed any hopes of a podium finish. Conor then rode in the Isle of Man TT
2008 Isle of Man TT
2008 Isle of Man TT Festival was held between Saturday 24 May and Saturday 7 June on the 37.733-mile Snaefell Mountain Course and was the 89th Isle of Man TT Race...

 and claimed a 5th place in the Superstock on Monday 2 June before recording a 7th place in the Supersport Junior TT on Wednesday 4 June. It was a good result for Conor in another week plagued by mechanical problems where he was forced to retire in the Senior and Supersport Race 1. On 20 August it was announced that Conor had parted company with the Vanfit team and would miss the final 4 rounds of the British Superstock Championship.

2009

Cummins signed a deal with Cookstown
Cookstown
Cookstown may refer to either of the following:*Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland*Cookstown, Ontario, Canada*Cookstown, New Jersey, United States...

-based McAdoo Kawasaki Racing for 2009's international road racing season. Cummins recorded his first Isle of Man TT podium on June 10, 2009 when he finished third in the second Supersport Junior TT
2009 Isle of Man TT
The 2009 Isle of Man TT Festival was held between Saturday 30 May and Friday 12 June on the Mountain Course. The 2009 TT races again include a second 600 cc Supersport Junior TT race and the Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT races held on the Billown Circuit in the Isle of Man...

 race, behind Michael Dunlop and Bruce Anstey
Bruce Anstey
Bruce Anstey is a professional motorcycle road racer. He is now signed to race for Padgett's Honda, having previously ridden for Relentless Suzuki which is based in Ireland. He made his Isle of Man TT debut in 1999, he completed his first race in the Lightweight 250 class, finishing 7th...

. Two days later, he went one place better, finishing second in the Senior TT
2009 Isle of Man TT
The 2009 Isle of Man TT Festival was held between Saturday 30 May and Friday 12 June on the Mountain Course. The 2009 TT races again include a second 600 cc Supersport Junior TT race and the Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT races held on the Billown Circuit in the Isle of Man...

, 19.54 seconds behind race winner Steve Plater
Steve Plater
Steve Plater is an English motorcycle road racer. He was the 2009 British Supersport champion, and also finished as runner-up in the series twice in the late 1990s. In the British Superbike Championship he has 4 wins and 17 further podiums. He has also had success in Endurance and road racing...

. Cummins also became the first ever Manxman to record an average lap speed of over 130 mph on his third lap of the Senior TT with a speed of 130.22 mph.
Cummins also record Top 10 finishes in the first Supersport Junior TT race and the Superstock race.

On 13 August, Conor became the fastest man in the world when he won the Dundrod 150 Superbike race, part of the Ulster Grand Prix Bike week. After a race long duel with Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson and Ryan Farquhar, a final lap of 133.284 mph on the McAdoo Kawasaki saw him take the win and shatter the lap record.

He then took his first ever International road race victory when he won the feature Ulster Grand Prix Superbike race.

2010

2010 has brought a mixed year for Conor with a great start to the TT on his Macadoo Kawasaki and a good NW200 it all ended with a nasty crash at the senior TT. The 24-year old sustained a badly broken left arm, fractures to bones in his back, a dislocated knee and ligament damage, bruising to his lungs and a hairline fracture to his pelvis in the spill before being airlifted to Nobles Hospital.

The crash occurred on the second lap of the Senior race, which was restarted, ironically, after a heavy crash involving Conor's good friend Guy Martin, who fortunately escaped serious injury. In the re-start, a lap of 131.123 mph saw Conor slot into third place just over two seconds off the race lead. By Ramsey on lap two, he was up to second and still only three seconds adrift of race leader Ian Hutchinson only for his crash to occur just a few miles later on the high speed right hand bends at the Verandah.

It had been a mixed race week for Conor prior to Senior race day with both highs and lows in his previous four races on the McAdoo Racing Kawasakis. The low came in the opening Superbike race which he seemingly had in the bag. Two laps in excess of 131 mph, including a stunning opening lap of 131.511 mph (the second fastest of all time and just a fraction outside the outright lap record), helped him seize control and with a lead of over 20 seconds, everything was looking good for his debut TT win. However, the machine refused to fire after his second pit stop and he saw his lead reduced to just four seconds but he then reluctantly had to retire on the fifth lap at Laurel Bank with engine problems.

The Superstock race saw Conor have his best result of the week as he took his third TT podium with an excellent third place, a best lap of 129.309 mph helping him move up to third place on the second lap, a position he maintained until the chequered flag. In the two Supersport races, Conor took a solid eighth in the first four-lapper and followed this up with a fighting sixth in the second, just 0.23s behind John McGuinness, also recording his first 125 mph+ lap in the class.

External links

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