Christian Iddon clinches Sunflower Trophy spoils after epic battle with Richard Cooper at Bishopscourt

Christian Iddon won the 42nd J.A.S. Finlay Sunflower Trophy race at Bishopscourt on Saturday for the first time after a titanic scrap with Richard Cooper.
Richard Cooper won the Sunflower Trophy race for the first time at Bishopscourt on Saturday on the Tyco BMW. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.Richard Cooper won the Sunflower Trophy race for the first time at Bishopscourt on Saturday on the Tyco BMW. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.
Richard Cooper won the Sunflower Trophy race for the first time at Bishopscourt on Saturday on the Tyco BMW. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.

In cold but dry conditions, the British championship riders battled throughout the 12-lap feature race at the Co. Down circuit, but it was Tyco BMW rider Iddon who prevailed by 0.3 seconds.

British Superstock 1000 champion Cooper, who won the Sunflower race on his maiden appearance at the event in 2018, led on the final lap, but Iddon found a way past and managed to keep his nose in front as the duo encountered slower riders through the last corners.

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The Stockport man, who set the outright lap record on his first visit to Bishopscourt in 2016, also won Friday’s first Superbike race from Cooper in the wet.

Cooper, though, managed a victory of his own on the Buildbase Suzuki in Saturday’s opening Superbike race, which saw Iddon fail to finish after he ran off the track.

Eglinton’s David Allingham, also riding a Buildbase Suzuki as part of a three-man line-up for Stuart and Steve Hicken’s team with Leon Jeacock, took third ahead of the impressive Jason Lynn, who was making his Superbike race debut on the ex-Burrows Racing Suzuki.

Jeacock was fifth ahead of Gerard Kinghan (IFS Yamaha), with Richard Kerr taking seventh on the Campbell Motorsport Triumph as he had the honour of being the first Supersport rider home.

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British Supersport rider Kerr won the first Supersport race from Ross Patterson (Yamaha) and Alastair Seeley (IFS/KRP Yamaha). Eunan McGlinchey was leading on the penultimate lap when he slid off the McAdoo Kawasaki.

Kerr repeated the feat in the second race, winning by 1.1 seconds from McGlinchey with Patterson and Seeley the top four.

McGlinchey (McAdoo Kawasaki) won the opening Supertwin race from Jeremy McWilliams (KMR Kawasaki).

The 21-year-old fended off McWilliams again in race two to bag a double by 0.2 seconds.

Schoolboy Cameron Dawson also excelled as he completed the rostrum in third in each race on the KMR Kawasaki.

Scott Swann was a double winner in the Moto3 class.