By Gordon Williams
THERE was local interest when the 50th running of Motorcycle Road Racing Club of Ireland’s Enkalon Trophy races took place at Bishopscourt on Saturday, and Newtownards rider Andy Kildea did not disappoint.
Kildea took victory in both Classic races, holding off runner-up Andrew McCrum and third-placed Maurice Hogg in race one, before the pair traded places in race two.
In the opening SBT Superbike race, Carl Phillips took the Bell Bikesport B&W BMW into an early lead, chased by Johnny Campbell on the 155 Racing BMW.
Although Mark Hewitt was holding third place, he was coming under pressure from Ryan Gibson, with Dean McMaster just holding off Aaron Armstrong in fifth place.
By mid-race, Phillips had a comfortable lead, ahead of Campbell, while Gibson had passed Hewitt to move into third place.
At the flag, Phillips took victory from Campbell, with Gibson third, Hewitt fourth, McMaster fifth and Armstrong sixth.
Phillips made it a double by winning race two and securing the Enkalon Trophy. Campbell was runner-up once again, followed by third-placed Gibson, McMaster, who got past Hewitt on what was to be the final lap due to a red flag incident, and Armstrong.
Christian Elkin, on the Bell Bikesport B&W Racing Ducati, led the opening Supersport race until the last lap, when Caolan Irwin slipped the Burrows Engineering Suzuki past to win.
Rab McAuley finished third on his Kawasaki and Francisco Faraldo was fourth, in front of Ruben Sherman Boyd and Newtownards rider Alex Duncan, on the Magic Bullet Ducati.
Elkin got revenge by winning race two, holding off Irwin and early leader Faraldo, Duncan improved to finish fourth, with McAuley fifth and Boyd sixth.
Elkin won both Supertwin races on the Bell Bikesport B&W Racing Aprilia, beating Kyle Cross and McMaster.
Hubert Tomaszeski won the Joe Lindsay Cup for his two victories in the Moto1 class, with Paige Mullen runner-up on both occasions. Riley Brown was third in race one and William Graham took third in race two.
Ruben Sherman Boyd won both Lightweight Supersport races from Tomaszeski and Buster Sherman Boyd.
In the combined Moto 3 class, Alfie Flynn was unbeatable, winning both races ahead of Gary Jordan and Caira Cahoon, who was awarded the Sylvia Davidson Perpetual Cup for the highest-scoring female competitor.
Patrick Knee and Joey Hennassy shared the wins in the Supersport Cup races and Andrew McCrae and Michael Press won the Superbike Cup races.
Phillips added to his Enkalon Trophy win by taking the Road Racing Ireland man of the meeting award.
