Sunflower Trophy: Richard Cooper and Richard Kerr shine with wins at Bishopscourt
- Published
Richard Kerr was a convincing winner of Saturday's Superbike race
Richard Cooper clinched a treble on the opening day of the Sunflower Trophy meeting at Bishopscourt, while Richard Kerr won the Superbike race.
Donegal man Kerr finished 3.85 seconds ahead of Charlie Nesbitt after 10 laps, with Danny Kent completing the podium.
Cooper overhauled Tom Booth-Amos to take victory in the Supersport opener and edged out the same rider by 0.1 seconds in race two for the class.
Nottingham rider Cooper was a convincing Supertwins race winner.
The former National Superstock 1000cc champion enjoyed a 13-second advantage over Cameron Dawson by the chequered flag, with Sam Laffins third.
Richard Cooper raced to a comprehensive victory in the Supertwins class
Kerr won the feature Sunflower Trophy event for the first time 12 months ago as part of a big bike hat-trick and he picked up where he left off last year by setting the pole position time for the Superbike category on Saturday.
In the 10-lap race, the AMD Motorsport Honda rider, runner-up to Dan Linfoot in this year's British Superstock 1000 series, established a seven-second lead over nearest challenger Nesbitt but rolled off in the latter stages to win by 3.85 seconds from the Hawk Racing Honda rider.
Danny Kent, the 2015 Moto3 world champion, came home third on a Yamaha on his debut competitive ride for the Northern Ireland-based Mar-Train Racing team.
Newly crowned Ulster Superbike champion Jason Lynn, Scott Swann and Lee Jackson rounded out the top six.
Jackson, who was fourth in the 2023 British Superbike Championship, was having his first ride on the Hawk Honda.
Gearlink Kawasaki-mounted Booth-Amos assumed his place at the front early in Supersport race one but ultimately had to give second best to Cooper on the Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing Yamaha after the eight laps.
Cooper, also a double Supersport winner at the Sunflower last year, set a new lap record for the class at 97.436mph on his way to his success.
His team-mate Dean Harrison occupied the final rostrum spot, followed by Lynn, Laffins and Luke Johnston.
Richard Cooper held off the challenge of Tom Booth-Amos in the two Supersport races
Supersport race two saw Cooper win by a much reduced margin of 0.1 seconds over Booth-Amos, with Harrison again in the runner-up position, then Eunan McGlinchey, Lynn and Laffins.
With Friday's track action having been postponed until Saturday because of adverse weather, the feature Sunflower Trophy race and the remainder of the weekend's race programme will take place at the county Down circuit on Sunday.
A Supertwins triumph for Cooper, a former winner of the feature Sunflower, on Sunday would see him repeat his four-timer of last year at the end-of-season meeting.