AS many as 2,000 fish are feared to have been killed following what is believed to be a farm effluent discharge to a tributary of the Blackwater at the weekend. The Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) and the Fisheries Conservancy Board (FCB) were called to the tributary in question at Fardross near Clogher at the weekend and news of the fish kill was officially released yesterday morning. The Environment and Heritage Service were notified of the incident on Saturday evening. A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment (DOE) told the Courier: "Officers from the EHS and the FCB immediately went to the area to investigate the source of the pollution and determine the environmental impact. "An initial visual inspection of the area confirmed a major fish kill with fish killed, consisting of brown trout and salmon parr (young salmon)." The environmental impact of the spill has been assessed as of high severity and the EHS says the source has been identified as agricultural. A Departent of Environment spokesperson confirmed that statutory samples have been taken with a view to prosecution. It is feared that it could take years to build up the fish stock on tributary again.

A NEW restaurant chain has arrived in Dungannon and will serve up more new jobs for the area. Supermac's, the family-owned quick service restaurant chain, is continuing its thriving expansion into Northern Ireland with the opening of a fifth outlet and the creation of over 20 jobs at The Oaks Shopping Centre, Dungannon, in May. Initially investing over £10 million in acquiring a range of units and drive-thru sites across Northern Ireland, Supermac's will create over 200 jobs Province-wide, over the next year. Supermac's is well known across the rest of Ireland and has built its success on a distinctive menu ideally suited to local tastes, which is constantly evolving as a result of customer feedback. The company has experienced significant growth in recent years and currently has 90 fast food restaurants across Ireland, employing over 2,500 people with an annual turnover of £55.3 million (82 million Euro). After the successful opening of its first four NI outlets and the eminent launch of a further three across Northern Ireland, Supermac's NI looks set to mirror its achievements in the South. Pat McDonagh told the Courier: "This is a hugely exciting step in the development of Supermac's. "As a family business founded locally, we pride ourselves in working closely with local suppliers and we are very keen to continue this approach in Northern Ireland. "As is the case with all supplies we purchase, we have a policy of actively supporting superior local food suppliers, using real food and food ingredients sourced locally wherever possible.In particular our beef supplies are 100% Irish and are traceable to the farm of origin. Recruitment for the Dungannon outlet is already underway.

INJURIES sustained by a rider at the Cookstown '100' road races on Saturday are not as serious as first thought. Neil Lyons from County Meath came off his bike on the approach to Gortin corner in the 400 Support B race. His motorcycle then hurtled through the air, narrowly missing a marshall at the side of the road. A spectator was also injured as a result of the accident. Lyons suffered a broken leg but is expected to make a full recovery. The spectator was conveyed to hospital but was released on Saturday evening. A spokesperson for the Cookstown 100 said: "Neil Lyons was taken to Craigavon Area Hospital and was later moved to the Royal. We wish him well as he recovers." As with all accidents at road racing events, the matter will be investigated by the Ulster branch of the Motor Cycling Union of Ireland.

High flyin' Ryan: Ryan farquhar banished the memories of his last visit to Cookstown by taking the Man of the Meeting award. sc18539

RYAN Farquhar made a welcome return to Cookstown, after a few years absence, taking a double, and a second place, which was enough to give him the Man of the Meeting award. However, it was the performance of Scot, Keith Amor, that had the tongues wagging, on board a 600 machine. He left Cookstown on Saturday night, as the fastest ever rider around the short orittor circuit. An amazing feat indeed. Not to be out done, two other locals Adi Mullen, as tipped in last week's Courier, was the winner of the 400 support race, whilst nearby neighbour, Timmy Turtle did likewise in the 400 support B race. Following a successful week's entertainment on the run up to the race weekend with a treasure hunt, an excellent parade of Classic Cars, something I reckon will be much bigger in the years to come, a great turn out for the Harriers runners, and the usual great turnout of classic and modern motorcycles for the Classic parade, which indeed heralded the start of the Cookstown 100 2008. The weather omens didn't look good for the road races through. This being the 75th running of the event, however, after a mixed practice weather wise, and a damp start, the weather Gods had got it all wrong, and this led to a record breaking Royal Hotel Cookstown 100. Friday's practice, saw the organisers faced with no less than 18 practice sessions but fair play to the Club and Francis Everard, Clerk of the Course. They got the show going on time and despite a few hold ups beyond their control, they were actually able to run an extra practice before the end of the day. Many critics said it couldn't be done, but thankfully, they have been proved wrong. For local rider, Trevor Black, he was an unfortunate causalty in the opening practice, when he crashed out on the approach to Orrittor cross roads. Thankfully he escaped with bruising, but, this spill put paid to his weekend's racing. The rest of the practices went pretty well to plan, with the exception of the big bikes, when this session was red flagged for safety reasons. A downpour saw the track saturated with rain water, and with riders out on slicks, it was indeed a wise decision to stop it. However, the wet/dry sessions certainly weren't playing into the rider's favours. With the fastest 22 overall from each of the main classes going into the A races, some riders found themselves hard done, thanks to the different track conditions. Riders such as John Burrows, Davy Morgan, William Dunlop were just a few who were caught out, and failed to qualify. However John did get going in the superbike races when Barry Davidson offered to let him take his place - a very sporting gesture indeed. After the practices were over, the stewards wisely decided to scrap the fastest 22 rider rule and instead they opted for the top seven in each class. A somewhat fairer idea although it is easier said than done.

Race day

Moving on to race day and with the wet conditions following some heavy rain, the organisers took a brave and sensible decision to re arrange the race programme by letting the first three races be for classes with threaded tyres. The first race of the day, the 400 support saw Coyles Wright shoot into an immediate lead only to overshoot Gortin corner. Adi Mullen didn't need a second invite to take the lead. Lap 3 and red flags. Npt a racing incident but an irate farmer having his own protest in the form of pushing recitical bales on to the track. Thankfully, by efficient work by the flag personnel in that area there weren't any racing incidents and the Clerk of the Course was quickly on the scene and everything was sorted and racing continued. By this stage, David Yeomans crashed out suffering a broken collarbone. In the four lap re run, Mullen took his JHS SV into the lead again. Coyles Wright gave chase, but the race wasn't over, and it was Damien Howard who was making inroads on Mullen. In fact he took the lead but the local lad wasn't having any of it and re took the lead. Howard then slipped off without injury joining his brother who had also slipped of. Lap 2 had claimed both Anthony Redmond and Alaistair Hayworth, both down together, but uninjured. More drama, four laps over, and Mullan and Wright raced on apparently not seeing the flag before Mullan ran out of fuel. So the result was taken from the end of lap four, giving the local lad his first road race success, Wright was second, with Paul Maguire in third. Colin McWhirter was 13th. Gallagher, an inspiration An Inspiration to road racers, that's Denis Gallagher, who, at over 71 years of age, was the winner of an enthralling 350 classic race. Gallagher, must be the only rider, who graced the original Orrittor circuit, and is still racing to day - maybe Jack Sands is another. But this was a tremendous achievement indeed. Adrian Elwood was second ahead of 250 winner Kevin Strowger. Billy Lyle was fourth ahead of Freddie Stewart, whilst Colin McWhirter was ninth ahead of Trevor Stewart in 10th. Timmy wins Keeping the local flag flying was Timmy Turtle, who won the 400 Support B race after a race long battle with Richard Ford and Mark Sheilds. This race was cut short after an horrific crash by Neil Lyons on the approach to Gortin corner. Regardless of what reports you may have heard, Neil suffered a broken leg, amongst other injuries - nothing life threatening and is expected to make a full recovery. He is at present in the RVH Belfast. The spectator injured as well, suffered shock. Get well soon Neil. George Thompson, making a return to the racing was seventh with Ian Holmes, also a returnee in 11th. No stopping Dunlop Nigel Moore led the 125 race but was under pressure from Michael Dunlop who eventually took the lead on lap six. But all the time, it was the wily old fox himself, Robert Dunlop who was making the inroads, coming from group 2. Robert, who had trouble in practice and was out on a borrowed machine was undoubtedly the quickest man on the track taking the win by over six seconds from Michael, with local lad, Nigel Moore in third. Marc Curtin a late entry was fourth ahead of Andrew Neil, who was having am impressive ride on his new 125, whilst Mark young had a steady return to the track, taking sixth spot. Gary Jordan, brother of British championship runner Paul, was 11th, with his mentor Jack Sands in 14th place, Ronnie Scott was 17th. Farquhar opens account Ryan Farquhar opened his Cookstown 100 account with a start to finish win in the Open race coming from group B. Martin Finnegan was second with Keith Amor on his 600 in third. Gary Johnson could have been higher but a few out braking moves lost him some time. But nevertheless, a superb debut for the rider with a great future. John Walsh was next home. John Burrows had to start from the back of the grid and to add to his problems, his bike stalled, and he had to be pushed away. he made great progress to finish ninth. Adrian McFarland took 15th. Adrian Archibald, got taken out at Gortin corner by Andy Brady, both unhurt, whilst, Dwyer Agnew and Rob Frost both went down on the exit of the same corner on the opening lap. Michael Dunlop shattered the 250 lap record when he beat Darran Burns in an exciting 250 race. On the ageing Aprillia, Adrian McFarland was always in the thick of the action but had to settle for third place. Having his first outing on the Stewart Smith 250 Honda, John Burrows struggled with the wrong gearing but nevertheless finished 10th. Phil Archer had a great race to take 13th whilst Adrian Mullen on his SV Suzuki took 15th Ryan Farquhar had no answer to the flying Keith Amor in a record breaking 600 race. Amor took the lead at the start and held it to the finish beating the local hero by just over three seconds. Martin Finnegan was a lonely third from Michael Dunlop, with Gary Johnson and Victor Gilmore competing the top six. Adrian McFarland was seventh with john Burrows in 13th just behind Wayne Kennedy who was riding the Doons Stores Yamaha Andrew Courtney won the 600 B race from Wayne Kirwan and Derek Sheilds. Andrew Neil on the Moira Yamaha was sixth with Mark young in 13th. George Scott was 21st. In the 750 support, there was a surprise winner. Darwyn Young took the honours from Damien Howard with pole setter and race favourite Gary Robinson in third having made a mistake which cost him a wee bit of time. Timmy turtle was 14th, and Clerk of the Course for the Bush road races, Darran Hughes made his road race debut, taking 19th place ahead of Ian Holmes. In the open B race, William Dunlop had an easy win from Carl Rennie. With Andrew Neil being the best 600 runner. Trevor Ferguson had his first race of the year, taking fourth with peter Newell making it a good day for the locals with fifth place. On his first road race for the BT80 Supporters Club, Darran Burns was seventh, Phillip Shannon took 18th in what was also his first outing of the year. Cookstown 100 Race The feature race of the day, The Cookstown 100 race, saw the flying Farquhar come under pressure from the flying Scot, Keith Amor. However, some distance behind on the roads but on their heels on corrected time was a rejuvenated Martin Finnegan. Certainly the ingredients for an exciting race and they didn't disappoint. Farquhar kept ahead for the ten laps but whilst Amor may have lost out down the start/finish straight, he was sure making inroads on the back of the circuit. Each time they came round, Amor was on Farquhar's heels - brilliant racing. And with the added excitement of Finnegan in group B lapping at the same speeds, the crowds, who were actually getting sunburned as well, were witnessing one of the best Cookstown 100s in recent years. At the flag, Farquhar got the win, and with it, the Man of the Meeting, an award he has taken for the fourth time. Finnegan took second a mere .898 seconds adrift with Amor only a few seconds in arrears. Gary Johnson continued his impressive debut at Cookstown to take fourth ahead of William Dunlop. Next up was Archibald, Brady and John Burrows, whose results didn't really justify the efforts put in over the past week. Nevertheless, John was glad to have been on the grid as a few weeks ago it wasn't looking good. Farquhar's win also took him to the top of the Duke rankings series. Adrian Mcfarland took 13th. In the big Classic, Richard Ford was the winner of the 1000 class whilst Scot Wattie Brown took the honours in the 500 class from Manx rider Allan Brew. Fancied runners Freddie Stewart and Mark Morgan were both retirements. In the senior support B race, it was English visitor and road race debutant Mike Russel who was the winner from Magherafelt rider Gerry O'Kane (Jnr). He was having his first road race for a few years on the ex-Craig Gibson Yamaha. Neil Nugent was next home from David Sleith and Caioth lawless. The 250 B race saw Robert Dunlop make it a double. This was only Robert's second time on a 250 since his big crash at the IOM TT quite a few years ago. However he was having a race on his own and won easily from son and father, Paul and Dave Hedison, with Paul Maguire in fourth and Paul Elvis Newton in fifth place - a much better result than last year when he ended up in hospital. Local lads Timmy Turtle and Colin McWhirter had their own race and finished 11th and 12th respectively, just ahead of Carolynn Sells who was making her debut at Cookstown. Carl Rennie won the second B Open race from Tony Czyzewski, with Darran Burns bringing the BT80 Supporters Club Kawasaki home in third. Peter Newell, again having a good run to take fourth ahead of the fastest Chipper, Trevor Ferguson in fifth. Andy Neil was seventh whilst Phillip Shannon improved on his first race times to take 12th. Well done It was amazing to hear so many people saying, 'too many races' and 'they will never get through it'. Well, credit where it's due, the Cookstown MCC, along with Francis Everard (Clerk of the Course), had a big task ahead of them. When the roads closed on Friday, the skies didn't look too healthy and indeed the rains came but the show kept going. Saturday, and a few race incidents which required red flags and time lost but again they kept their cool. The full race programme was run, and all riders got their races. This indeed was a remarkable achievement for all involved. Let's hope this is the standard set for the remainder of the Irish road race season.