Cookstown 100: Jubilant Dominic Herbertson hails dream start to 2024 with Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team

The English rider signed for Northern Ireland’s Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team for 2024 after Cork’s Mike Browne departed in an amicable split, with Herbertson given the opportunity to spearhead the Dungannon outfit’s road racing challenge.

He previously rode for John Burrows’ team in 2022 at the Tandragee 100 as a replacement for the injured Browne and seized the chance, winning the Supersport race in atrocious conditions.

The 33-year-old is determined to make the most of his opportunity this year and Herberston stepped up to the mark at the first Irish road race of the season, clinching a Superbike brace on the BMW M1000RR, a Supersport success and a victory on his Moto3 debut.

He had to dig deep to fend off Skerries man Michael Sweeney to win the showpiece 12-lap Superbike race at the Orritor course after an epic duel, with Herbertson prevailing by only 0.175s.

It was a similar story in the Supersport event, with Hexham’s Herbertson turning the tables on Sweeney to win by just under half-a-second after the experienced Republic of Ireland man had come out on top by a few hundredths of a second in Friday’s invitation race.

Ballymoney’s Michael Dunlop, who dominated the first Superbike invitation race on Friday on the Hawk Racing Honda to win from pole man Herbertson, did not race on Saturday after crashing out of the Supersport invitation race on his MD Racing Triumph. The 25-time Isle of Man TT winner walked away from Friday’s incident.

For Herbertson, it was a dream start to 2024 with a hard-fought quadruple at the Burrows team’s home road race and afterwards he said the ‘pressure was off’ going into next week’s North West 200.

“It was my first time riding for a big team and I’ve just been used to having one of my friends and my other half, and we’ve all just always done it ourselves in that regard,” Herbertson said.

“Going into that event I knew where I wanted to be and what was achievable on the weekend.

“I’ve never had the pressure before but it never came from the team – although riding for Burrows Engineering there is pressure in itself; it never comes from John or the team, but how people perceive and how I perceive it.

“John’s providing the equipment to go and do a job and I was tense, I was nervous and it’s a challenge that I’ve never had before.

“To be able to pull it off and get the wins on Saturday, the world has been lifted off my shoulders in that regard.

“But being able to go to the first Irish national of the year and get all the wins means the pressure’s off to an extent now for the North West because we’ve done the job on that side of things and everything else from here on is a bonus.”

Herbertson opened his account on Saturday with victory on the Burrows Yamaha R6 in the Supersport race by 0.478s from Sweeney (EM Building Yamaha), with Ballymoney’s Darryl Tweed third on the M&D Honda, 16 seconds back.

Herbertson wrapped up a double with a comfortable victory in his first outing on the Ulster team’s Moto3 Honda machine by 11.720s from veteran roads man Nigel Moore (Honda), with Germany’s Chris Meyer a long way back in third on his 125cc Honda.

In the Open A Superbike race, Herbertson took charge and enjoyed a trouble-free run to victory after Sweeney encountered an issue with his MJR BMW, dropping from a safe second place to fourth at the finish.

Ballymena’s Neil Kernohan clinched the runner-up spot on his Yamaha R1 after an excellent ride, 30 seconds behind Herbertson, with Lincolnshire’s Sam Johnson third on his Suzuki ahead of the unfortunate Sweeney.

The feature Superbike event was the final race on the programme and the fans weren’t left disappointed as Herbertson and Sweeney put on a magnificent spectacle.

They broke clear of the chasing pack and traded positions and fastest laps at the front, with Herbertson eking out a slight advantage of 0.6s with two laps to go in the 12-lap finale.

Sweeney closed the deficit on the last lap but Herbertson held his nerve to the line to wrap up his fourth win of the day.

Ryan Whitehall from the Isle of Wight was a distant third on his Yamaha R1 after pipping Keelim Ryan (Trison McMullan Racing Kawasaki) by the narrowest of margins to the final rostrum place.

Richard Charlton was fourth on his Yamaha R1 ahead of Johnson.

Kernohan retired in the closing stages on his Yamaha.

Sweeney toasted a double at the meeting after winning the Supertwin race on his new Aprilia from Gareth Arnold (Aprilia), while Tweed claimed the Lightweight Supersport spoils on the M&D Kawasaki.

Londonderry’s Sean Brolly and Aidan Cleary were the respective winners of the Senior and Junior Support races.

Ballymena’s Barry Davidson won the Supersport 300 and Classic 350 races while newcomer Kevin Keyes impressed as the Co Offaly man – due to make his debut at the upcoming North West 200 and Isle of Man TT – secured a double in the Supersport B and Cookstown 100 Superbike B races on the Daracore Racing Yamaha machines.