By Kyle white Belfast Newsletter.
Mike Browne wins 47th Enkalon Trophy race for Burrows Engineering/RK Racing at Bishopscourt after battle with Derek Sheils
Mike Browne won the 47th Enkalon Trophy for Northern Ireland team Burrows Engineering/RK Racing at Bishopscourt in Co Down on Saturday after repelling a determined attack from Derek Sheils.
Cork man Browne led for most of the eight-lap race, which was restarted after a non-serious red flag incident, before coming under pressure from fellow Republic of Ireland rider Sheils (Roadhouse Macau BMW).
There was little between the pair throughout and Sheils – a three-time Enkalon Trophy winner – made his move for the lead at Turn 2 on the penultimate lap before running wide.
That allowed Browne to nip back underneath and he was able to keep his nose in front until the chequered flag to claim his first win on the team’s new M1000RR, which was raced last year by TAS Racing’s Ian Hutchinson at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.
Browne’s winning margin at the finish was three tenths of a second over Sheils, with Ballymena’s Jason Lynn – riding his spare Kawasaki Superbike after his number one machine blew up in practice – rallying for third place after lying fifth at the end of the first lap.
Lynn, who won both Superbike races in the season-opener last month at Bishopscourt, still leads the Ulster Superbike Championship after the first two rounds for the J McC Roofing Racing team.
Cookstown’s Gary McCoy finished fourth on the Madbros Suzuki, over six seconds down on Browne, with Michael Sweeney (MJR BMW) and Korie McGreevy (McAdoo Kawasaki) completing the first six.
The Enkalon Trophy was due to be decided over two legs, but the remainder of the meeting was called off after a red flag incident in the second Enkalon race, with time running out and temperatures becoming colder. The rider involved in the crash did not sustain serious injuries.
Former National Junior Superstock champion McGreevy claimed the IFS David Wood Trophy when he pulled out all the stops to win the Supersport race.
McGreevy and Lynn traded blows throughout the 10-lap showdown, with Adam McLean in close contention on the J McC Roofing Yamaha.
It was McGreevy, though, who kept Lynn at bay on the last lap to secure his third win in a row in the Supersport class. McLean was a close third with Browne next as the quartet were covered by only one second.
McCoy and McGreevy were involved in a battle in the Supertwin race, but in the end McCoy won comfortably by 13 seconds from Christian Elkin after McGreevy retired on the McAdoo Kawasaki on the last lap.
Schoolboy Jack Burrows was a commanding winner of the first Moto3 race on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Honda but slid out of the lead in race two. Brian Hamilton took the win from stalwart Nigel Moore.
Ruben Sherman-Boyd and Bailey Dobson claimed a win apiece in the Supersport 300 races, while Lewis Mullen won the Moto One race.
Round three of the Ulster Superbike Championship takes place on Easter Monday at Kirkistown on the Ards Peninsula.
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