By 
LOCAL riders and race teams brought their short circuit season’s to a close last weekend at Bishopscourt where the annual Sunflower Trophy meeting took place over two days.
In difficult conditions on the Friday, race one saw the Supertwins, Production Twins and Pre Injections take to the track where British GP2 champion, Owen Jenner was the winner of the Supertwin race, with British National Sportbike champion, Richard Cooper taking second on the Ryan Farquhar-prepared Jack Reid Cars/KMR Kawasaki, while Donegal rider, Caolan Irwin came home third on the Burrows/RK Racing Aprilia, which he has been riding in the National Sportbike class this season. Cookstown’s Gary McCoy headed the field of local racers, taking fourth on his MadBros machine, while his team-mate Dungannon’s Stephen McAdoo was sixth.
The Supersport race was up next, with the BPE/Russell Racing duo of Richard Cooper and Mike Browne taking first and second. Mark Conlin took third on the NRG Ducati, while McAdoo Kawasaki’s Korie McGreevy pipped Christian Elkin for fourth as they battled for the Ulster Supersport Pro title. Behind that tussle was McCoy in sixth, two places in front of Aughnacloy’s Andrew Smyth, racing for Parker Car Transport on the day, with Killyman’s Cameron Dawson ninth, just in front of former Burrows team rider, Dom Herbertson. Meanwhile, fresh from a heavy high-side the week before at Brands Hatch and having to be helped on and off his bike, Omagh’s Jamie Lyons finished a creditable 15th, just ahead of Dungannon’s Paul Cranston.
In the Superbike Pro race, with leading contenders from USBK and British Championship lining up. Scott Swann took a well deserved win from Charlie Nesbitt, with McGreevy in third. C
ooper did a fantastic job on his lesser powered Supersport machine, taking fourth, while Lyons again gritted his teeth to get through the pain barrier to seal ninth. Smyth came home 12th, once place ahead of Cookstown’s Jordan McCord.
The last race of day one was the mixed grid of Supersport 300s, Lightweight Supersports and Moto 3/125GPs. British Talent Cup duo Alexander Rowan and Jack Burrows finished first and second in the Moto 3 class, with Kyle Martin taking third.
The second and final day of racing at the Sunflower concluded the Irish racing season. Conditions were far superior to those of the previous day, with clear skies all day.
The Superbike Pro class took in three races. Mastermac Honda rider, Charlie Nesbitt took the win from McAdoo Racing’s Korie McGreevy in the SBT Ireland Superbike Race. Richard Kerr aboard the Burrows/RK Racing BMW took third, with the previous day’s winner Scott Swann, taking fourth on his Hunts/Swann Honda. Lyons was seventh on his Ability Energy Scotland Honda, ahead of Smyth in 13th position and McCord in 19th.
The feature Sunflower race was won by Charlie Nesbitt, with David Allingham taking second place from Richard Kerr on the bike of Tyrone team, Burrows Engineering by RK Racing in third. Jamie Lyons was a tremendous sixth, one place ahead the first Supersport finisher, Jenner, on the Parker Car Transport Yamaha, while Dawson was 11th, Smyth 14th and and leading Cup class rider was Jordan McCord in 16th, with former Moto GP racer, Jeremy McWilliams sandwiched in between the Tyrone lads in 15th.
The third and final Superbike Pro race of the day was won by Scott Swann, who led from the start from runner-up Charlie Nesbitt, setting a new lap record in the process, while Kerr took third on his Burrows machine. McCord, meanwhile finished 11th.
The first Supersport race of the day was won by Richard Cooper, with Owen Jenner taking second and Mike Browne third, making it a Yamaha 1-2-3. Korie McGreevy finished fourth, with Cameron Dawson in fifth, separating Korie from championship rival Christian Elkin who finished sixth. This allowed Korie to take the points needed to win the Supersport Championship for Cookstown’s McAdoo Kawasaki team.
McCoy, meanwhile, was seventh, Smyth was eighth and Lyons 12th with Cranston 17th.
The second Supersport event of the day was a non-championship race. The podium result was the same from earlier in the day, with Cooper, Jenner and Browne setting the pace. Cameron Dawson took fourth, ahead of Gary McCoy and Andrew Smyth, while Dungannon’s Thomas McAdoo finished 11th on a rare outing on his Kawasaki, with Cranston 15th.
The mixed grid of Supertwins, Production Twins and Pre Injections made for interesting racing during the final day. Richard Cooper dominated the Supertwin class, with Owen Jenner taking second and Caolan Irwin in third, while McCoy was fourth.
Jack Burrows took the Moto 3 win from Matt Davidson, with McAdoo, on the second Burrows Engineering/RK Racing machine suffering a mechanical issue before the finish.
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