Melissa Kennedy cannot wait to get racing on her home track. The local rider lives less than two miles from the Arney Circuit that is set to host the Enniskillen Road Races this weekend, and she is excited by the thought of competing on her own doorstep.
“I can’t wait,” she admitted. “Any race we have to go to its and hour and a half or two hours or more to get to it, so the fact it is just down the road from my house is great. It’s great for Fermanagh and it’s going to shape up to be a good road race. That’s for sure.”
Melissa will ride in the Moto 3 class on her Honda, and she is coming into the race on the back of a successful season so far. Although she had problems in the season opener in Cookstown, she bounced back with a fourth place finish in Tandragee, and claimed second and fourth at a recent short circuit event at Kirkistown, as well as finishing as the top female rider. 
Having the race on familiar territory may give Melissa a slight edge over her rivals, but she is not sure how much of a difference local knowledge will make. “I would know the main road and the road from Arney to Bellanaleck really well but it’s the wee back section I wouldn’t be so sure about,” she said. “I have never been around that road on a bike before. I have only been around it in a car and that is two completely different things. Maybe there is a wee bit of an added advantage but not really. It does add a little bit more pressure I will admit, but I add the pressure to myself anyway.”
“The target is to finish in the top five if I can. That is what I have been aiming for all season and I have managed to get there. I just want to get round in one piece given it is my first road race around there. For the clubs sake I hope everyone makes it round safely.”
Melissa admits she did doubt that she would ever be able to compete in a road race in her home county, and paid tribute to the efforts of the club that have made Saturday’s event possible. “Whenever they first talked about it I thought they were all mad, but I’m so happy for the club,” she said. “Without all the hard work they have put in this would not have been possible. I’m chuffed to bits that it is actually happening now.”
The talk in the paddock about the circuit has been positive, with Melissa and her fellow riders looking forward to the challenge. “Everyone seems positive about it and they seem to like it,” she said. “We are all going out for the first time and everyone is in the same boat, and I’m sure they will probably respect it for the first couple of laps, but then the race heads will come on. There has been a couple of racers around it and they were a bit iffy about the back section being so tight and bumpy and quite physical, but they have said that it looks like it will be good fun.”