Ben Finnerty secures IMC Junior Mini GP title as brother Mike leads the way in BamBam class

The Finnerty brothers, Ben and Mike from Kildare Town are halfway towards completing a double in this season’s Irish Minibike Championship.

While Ben has secured the Junior Mini GP title with two rounds to spare, his younger sibling holds a two-point lead at the top of the BamBam leaderboard, in what is shaping up to be a thrilling finale to that division.

Qualifying on pole at the latest round of the series in Athboy, Ben recorded a start-to-finish victory in Race One, but, over the following two, had to negotiate a tough challenge from third-place rider, Boyd Knipe, who enjoyed a blistering start in both of those runs to take the lead, before Finnerty won it back.

That clean sweep was enough to propel the Kildare lad out of reach in the battle for the Junior Mini GP crown, with two more outings in Nutts Corner and Kirkistown still to go.

And while he does have this year’s title already bagged, Ben still intends to contest those final two events, his mother, Rose telling The Kildare Nationalist “He definitely will compete in the last two rounds, because it's all about bike time and it's all training as well.

“Ben loves racing, so definitely, he’ll compete even if it's not for points. He knows now, at this stage, he's just competing against himself and his lap times and trying to just do his best.

“He finished fourth overall in the Mini GP last year. That was his rookie year, when he was learning the new style of bike and competing against a few older riders, who were doing their last year in that class and were more experienced.

“So this was his first year to really give it his all and hopefully secure the championship, which he did,” she said.

Certainly, a full championship run will serve Finnerty well as he looks to not only defend his title next year, but also try his hand at other big competitions.

“He wouldn't be able to move up a group in the IMC until he's 14” explained Rose. “He just turned 12 in August, so he'll probably compete in the Mini GP again.

“But we're also hoping to maybe get him into some of the Ulster Superbike Championships, because he's old enough to do a few rounds in that if he gets his racing license. It's just about moving him on to the bigger bikes and the bigger tracks now.

“Hopefully early next year he'll be able to go for his track license and maybe do some track days and some training on a bigger bike and get moving on to the likes of Mondello Park and the Ulsters,” she said.

Ben’s younger brother, Mike is, meanwhile, engaged in a nailbiting battle with Harry Birch for this season’s IMC BamBam title, with the series lead swinging back and forth.

Indeed, Finnerty’s superb run in Athboy recently saw him turn a seven-point deficit into a two-point lead with as many rounds remaining.

“Mike did fantastic in the last round” remarked Rose. “He qualified on pole as well and he won all three races. The first race was really exciting because Harry actually overtook him halfway through the first lap.

“They’re six-lap races, so Mike had to battle to try and catch him the whole way to the end. He overtook him midway through the very last lap and was able to keep him behind him until the chequered flag. It certainly had my heart racing and had me jumping up and down.

“He was delighted, because in the round before in Kirkistown, he just wasn't at his best. He just couldn't pull it together on the day and he finished fourth overall.

“He was really left a bit deflated and a bit down because he just couldn't figure out why he wasn't able to put it all together on the day.

“So to be able to come back and dominate the way he did at the weekend was really a great boost. It really helped his confidence and he was delighted,” she said.

There is no doubt, Finnerty will be buoyed by this result as he prepares to head to Nutts Corner for the next stop in the championship in September ahead of the finale in Kirkistown the following month.

And Rose is hoping he can stave off the challenge of Birch and complete a double for the Finnerty family and Kildare, remarking “It's a really tight championship this year between him and Harry.

“They've swapped places a couple of times now and it's going to come down to whoever wins the next two rounds.

“It'd be nice if Mike could win his championship in the same year as Ben, because there’s probably not a good chance that happening again for a long time with the way the age groups change and the way Ben will be moving up,” she pointed out.