COVERAGE BY GORDON WILLIAMS
THE Belfast and District Motorcycle Club staged the second round of their Charles Hurst Motorcycle Village ‘Big Three’ Championship at Kirkistown on Saturday, alongside round four of the SBT Ireland Ulster Superbike Championship.
Despite persistent heavy rain showers throughout the day, all races went ahead as scheduled, with improving track conditions allowing for a drying surface during the later events.
In extremely wet conditions, the opening King of Kirkistown Superbike race saw victory for Carl Phillips on the JMcC Roofing Kawasaki. Phillips led from the start, while Andy Reid, riding the JMcC Roofing BMW, held second after the opening lap. However, Jonny Campbell on the 155 Racing BMW passed Reid on lap two to take second place.
At the halfway mark, Phillips remained in control at the front, with Campbell still within striking distance. Reid ran third, followed by Mark Hewitt, Ross Irwin, and Daniel Mathison. With one lap to go, Phillips maintained his lead over Campbell, while Hewitt moved ahead of Reid into third. Irwin held on to fifth and Aaron Spence climbed to sixth. At the chequered flag, Phillips took the win by just over 2.5 seconds from Campbell, followed by Hewitt, Reid, Irwin, and Spence.
Phillips made it a Superbike double in race two, but this time had to work harder for the win. Campbell led early on, with Phillips close behind. By lap two, Reid had moved up into second. The leading trio stayed tightly packed until the halfway point, when Phillips overtook Reid to reclaim second position. On the final lap, Phillips managed to pass Campbell and secure victory by just 0.197 seconds. Reid finished third, with Aaron Gibson in fourth, Dean McMaster fifth, and Ross Irwin rounding out the top six. Notably absent was Korie McGreevey, who crashed during practice. We extend our best wishes to Korie for a speedy recovery.
Graham Irwin took double honours in the Crown Prince of Kirkistown Supersport races on the Magic Bullet Ducati. In race one, he took an early lead from Jeramy McWilliams on the JMcC Roofing Ducati, with Christian Elkin (Dyno Centre NI Yamaha) in third. McWilliams briefly moved ahead on lap two, but Irwin reclaimed the lead on the next lap and held off the pressure to win after six tricky laps. Elkin maintained third, followed by Marc Conlin, Rab McAuley, and A.J. Carey.
McWilliams did not start race two. Irwin again led early, but Elkin passed him on lap two. Irwin fought back to retake the lead the next lap and held on under constant pressure to take the win by just 0.279 seconds. Conlin improved on his first-race performance to finish third, followed by Carey, Warren Knowles, and Ross Moore.
Caolán Irwin won the opening President’s Cup Supertwins race aboard the Burrows Engineering Aprilia. Kevin Lavery (LMLR Kawasaki) finished second, with Elkin third on the RB Engineering Kawasaki. Dean McMaster came fourth, and Robert Waddell held off Finnán Wherity for fifth. In race two, Irwin again claimed victory, this time overtaking Elkin after briefly losing the lead. Lavery finished third once more, followed by McMaster, Wherity, and Hayden Clinton.
In the combined Superbike Cup and Pre-Injection races, Tam Oliver mastered the challenging wet conditions to win the opening Superbike Cup race from Jonathan Gregory and Michael Press. In race two, Keith Richardson took the win, with Oliver second and Gregory third.
In the Pre-Injection class, Paul Dermaine won race one, ahead of Johnny Irwin and Alexander Rowan. Rowan bounced back to win race two, followed by Dermaine and Connor McDonnell.
Jamie Dickson was a double winner in the Supersport Cup races, beating William Young and Barry Gaston in race one, and taking victory over Michael Clyde and Alan Mairs in race two.
In the Moto 1 category, Hubert Tomazewski claimed both race wins ahead of Harley Smyth. William Graham secured third in race one, with Osin Walsh taking third in race two.
Alexander Rowan was dominant in the Moto 3 class, taking both race wins.
Ruben Sherman-Boyd did likewise in the Lightweight Supersport class, and Bailey Dobson claimed a clean sweep in the Supersport 300 races.
Newtownards rider Andy Kildea took both wins in the 1,000cc Classic races. Sean Leonard was victorious in both 500cc Classic races, Nigel Moore doubled up in the 350cc class, and Brian Mateer remained unbeaten in the 250cc Classic on his Suzuki.
