British Supersport champion Rhys Irwin blitzes opposition on return to Sunflower Trophy races for first time in a decade
Donegal’s Rhys Irwin showed why he is British Supersport champion with an all-conquering performance at the Sunflower Trophy meeting.
Irwin was competing at the Hillsborough Club’s finale to the Ulster Superbike Championship for the first time in a decade.
The 23-year-old has been in imperious form throughout 2025, with Irwin winning six races on the Gearlink Bike Performance 15 Suzuki in the British championship.
He secured the title at the final round at Brands Hatch just over a week ago by only four points from Australia’s Ben Currie, when Irwin’s third place in a tense wet race at Brands was enough to bring the title home.
He was untouchable in the Supersport class at Bishopscourt, claiming pole position and winning Friday’s opening race by more than 15 seconds from Ulster champion Korie McGreevy.
On Saturday, Irwin stole the show again, leading all the way and winning in dominant style by 21.46 seconds, with McGreevy again claiming the runner-up spot on the McAdoo Kawasaki to retain the Ulster Supersport crown for the second successive year.
Irwin’s fastest lap in Friday’s Supersport race of 1m 07.299s was fractionally outside the Supersport lap record at Bishopscourt, which was set by World Supersport race winner Tom Booth-Amos in 1m 07.072s on a Gearlink Kawasaki in 2023.
The Irishman lapped marginally quicker in Saturday’s Jim Finlay Memorial Superbike race on his Supersport machine in 1m 07.196s, finishing fourth.
Irwin later claimed fifth against the Superbike machines in the headline Sunflower Trophy race, which was held over 12 laps of the 1.824-mile course.
Reflecting on his return to the event, Irwin said: “It’s lovely to come back and it’s been 10 years since I last raced here at the Sunflower in 2015 on an Aprilia 125, so it’s nice to come back after winning the British Supersport Championship.
“Hopefully we’ve put on a good show for everyone that’s come out to watch us.”
His older brother Caolan was also in action at Bishopscourt, where he rode for Dungannon team Burrows Engineering/RK Racing.
He finished a close third behind McGreevy in Saturday’s Supersport encounter on the Ulster team’s Yamaha R6.
In the Moto3 class, Jack Dunabie narrowly held off Jack Burrows to seal a double on the RS Racing Honda 250.
Dunabie won Friday’s race comfortably but was pushed all the way in Saturday’s race by Jack Burrows, who was narrowly denied victory on the Burrows/RK Racing Honda after being outgunned on the blast to the finishing line, losing out by just 0.063s.
Cameron Dawson won Saturday’s Supertwin race on the PHR Performance Triumph from Christian Elkin (RB Engineering Kawasaki), who wrapped up the Ulster title.
Adam McLean, winner of the first race on Friday, was a non-starter on the Flitwick Motorcycles/SMV Yamaha.