Derek Sheils wins shortened Open Superbike race on Roadhouse Macau BMW at KDM Hire Cookstown 100 | Feature race called off due to heavy rain

The race was red-flagged twice, with Adam McLean initially crashing out unhurt on the first lap, while Stephen McKnight brought the red flags out again after another non-serious incident on lap one of the second restart.

As a result, the race was reduced to five laps and pole man Sheils immediately took the lead on his Roadhouse Macau BMW from fellow Irishman Michael Sweeney (MJR BMW).

The duo broke away from the chasing pack by the end of the opening lap, with only half-a-second between them.

Mullingar’s Thomas Maxwell was in third place on his 1000cc Kawasaki ahead of McAdoo Racing’s McLean and Neil Kernohan (Yamaha R1).

Paul Jordan, who qualified fourth, was languishing in ninth place after an apparent mistake on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki.

Positions at the front remained unchanged as Sweeney continued to shadow Sheils, but the race leader pulled out a decisive advantage on the closing stages and he took the chequered flag by 2.1s.

Maxwell was seven seconds further back in third place with McLean, perhaps feeling a little second-hand after his earlier crash, taking fourth on the McAdoo Kawasaki.

Kernohan and Mike Browne (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Yamaha 600) completed the top six, with Jordan working his way through to finish in seventh.

Sheils was denied the chance of a Superbike double when the feature Cookstown 100 race was called off after heavy rain began to fall around the Orritor course later in the afternoon.

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