Charity in the pink thanks to road racer

More than ?7,000 has been handed over to charity thanks to the fundraising efforts of racer Davy Morgan.

Cancer charities receive more than ?7,000 thanks to road racer's bright pink helmet. Throughout the 2009 racing season, including at the Isle of Man TT in May and June, road racing star Morgan wore a bright pink helmet and the Davy Morgan #71 Supporters Club sold special pin badges featuring the eye-catching pink helmet design. The aim was to raise cash for breast cancer charities.
Morgan had set out to raise ?700 during the year, enough to pay for 10 women to have a breast scan, but the club was overwhelmed by support and brought in 10 times more than originally hoped for.

He handed over ?5,000 to Action Cancer, ?2,250 to Isle of Man Breastcare and 150 euro to Breast Cancer, Southern Ireland.

Club chairman Greg Livingstone said:
'We set out at the start of the year to raise ?700, but we never realised how the badges would catch the imagination of the racing community so we are delighted to have raise almost 10 times what we aimed for.'

'We would like to thank all those who sold badges and all those who bought them, it was all our efforts that will help these cancer charities help women across Ireland and the Isle of Man. We still have some badges left and will continue to sell them in 2010 and continue our support of this worthy cause.'

Kerry McCrea from Action Cancer added:
'This is unbelievable, I never thought we would receive a cheque this big, this will make such a difference to a lot of women's lives so thank you all. It has been an amazing year for our team, we had never been to a road race before and the response we got at Cookstown, Mid-Antrim and Ulster Grand Prix was brilliant, we also learned a few things that will help us in the future - 'we need welly boots'!'

'I would also like to announce that with the help of our partnership with Davy and the Supporters Club we have now been chosen as the official charity of the 2010 North West 200, which is a massive achievement, so again thank you very much.'

Colin Dickson, from Isle of Man Breastcare, said:
'Thank you so much for your kind cheque, cancer is an awful disease that not only hits emotionally and physically, but financially, so we look to help and support women and families as much as we can in these situations, this money will certainly help as we try to do this.'

Meanwhile, Morgan's plans for the 2010 season are well-advanced - armed with an ex-TAS Suzuki and hopes for an ex-British Championship front-running Yamaha for the 600 class, the Saintfield lorry driver is raring to go.

At the start of 2009, Morgan had no machine sorted until his Yamaha R1 arrived just before Cookstown. Next year, with his machinery sorted already, he is hoping to have a few miles under his belt before the season starts.

The Suzuki Superbike is the one Cameron Donald rode to the fastest lap in practice for the 2009 TT, and it is thanks to Trevor Matthewson, of Strangford Holiday Park - whose logo adorned Morgan's 250cc Honda 250 in 2009 - that Morgan has the machine.

In the 600cc class, Morgan hopes to have the ex-Dan Linfoot 600 Yamaha, thanks to Steve Caffyn, of CSC Branson Racing, who will again be helping Morgan.

The 250cc Honda will be ridden, although Morgan is likely to miss the two-stroke races at the International meetings due to costs.

He will retain the Yamaha R1 for the Superstock class.

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