By Gordon Williams
THE fifth round of the SBT Ulster Superbike Championship took place at Kirkistown Racing Circuit last weekend, promoted by the Road Racing Club of Ireland.
In the opening SBT Superbike race, Carl Phillips took the Bell Bikesport B&W Racing BMW into the lead from the start, chased by Jonny Campbell and Aaron Spence, who were followed by Ryan Gibson, Luke Jones and Jamie Lyons.
By the mid-race distance, Phillips was clear at the front and Campbell dropped out of the race, while holding second place, allowing Spence to move up to second place, with Lyons third and followed by Gibson, Jones and Ross Irwin.
Phillips stormed to victory with a new lap record of 54.051 seconds in his pocket, while the scrap for second was resolved at the flag, with Gibson beating Jones and Spence.
Lyons dropped down the field after an overshoot and the race was redflagged as the first six finishers had crossed the line. Alan Kenny finished fifth and Mark Hewitt came home in sixth.
Phillips completed a double by winning race two, leading Lyons, Campbell, Jones, Gibson and Hewitt for the first four laps.
By lap nine, Phillips was well in control at the front, ahead of Campbell and Jones, with Lyons, Gibson and Hewitt occupying fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
With two laps to go, Campbell overshot and dropped down the field, enabling Jones to race into, while Gibson passed Lyons into third place.
At the flag, Phillips took victory and the Norman Brown Memorial Trophy. Jones was second, Gibson took third, Lyons came fourth, the fast finishing Spence claimed fifth and Hewitt rounded off the top six.
Korie McGreevey took the McAdoo Kawasaki into a comfortable lead from the start, followed by Christian Elkin, on the Bell Bikesport B&W Racing Ducati, with Adam Brown completing the top three places. Ross Martin finished a close fourth, with Rab McAuley fifth and Robert Waddell sixth.
McGreevey led race two from the start, but he was out of the race by lap four, as ending Elkin took over to win from Brown and Rab McAuley, closely followed by Ruben Sherman Boyd, Ross Martin and Francisco Faraldo.
Elkin won both McKinstry Motorcycle Transport Supertwins, seeing off Kyle Cross, who was runner-up in both races. Robert Waddell took third place in race one and Dean McMaster was third in race two.
Paige Mullan won the first Moto 1 race, holding off the advances of Joel Haire and William Graham, and completed the double when taking race two ahead of Herbert Tomaszweski and Haire.
Jack Burrows enjoyed a Moto3 double, while Ruben Sherman Boyd claimed a duo of successes in the Lightweight Supersport.
Scott Clements won both Superbike Cup races and the 600cc class honours were shared between Ryan McElroy and Harry McAleese, before Dylan Lynch and passenger Cillian Rogers won both sidecar races.
