Jason Lynn lifts David Wood Memorial Trophy for third year in a row at Bishopscourt

The reigning Ulster Supersport champion was in a class of his own in Saturday’s opening two Supersport sprint races on the Walter Bell Yamaha R6, which were held on a glorious sunny day at the County Down circuit.

Lynn cruised to victory by eight seconds in the opener from Randalstown-based Christian Elkin (Bob Wylie Yamaha), who had Kia McGreevy (Triple R Yamaha) breathing down his neck in a close scrap for the runner-up spot.

In the second race, Lynn quickly seized control again and closed out a comfortable win to seal a double by 7.5 seconds from McGreevy, with Belfast’s Mark Conlin clinching third on the Magic Bullet Yamaha.

The Upperlands rider, who clocked the fastest lap in the Nutt Travel ‘Sail to Pole’ qualifying shootout, faced different conditions on a showery day on Sunday.

Nonetheless, he pushed McGreevy all the way in the third David Wood Memorial race – held over nine laps following a re-restart – with only half-a-second between them at the finish. Kyle Cross rode a strong race to finish third on his Yamaha, 8.6 seconds down on the leaders.

Lynn, though, rounded out the weekend as he began it, completing a dominant treble by 5.6 seconds from Jack Waring (Yamaha) to retain the trophy he has won for the past two years, lifting the silverware for the first time in 2017. Cross finished on the podium in third again ahead of McGreevy.

In the Ulster Superbike class, Carrick’s Graeme Irwin underscored the progress he has made in his rookie short circuit season as the former British motocross star roared to a double on Saturday.

The Team 109 Kawasaki rider decided to enter the MCRRCI’s two-day event with no Pirelli National Superstock 1000 races at Assen over the weekend.

Irwin, who made the switch to tarmac racing full-time this season after a brilliant motocross career, won the opening Ulster Superbike race by 0.7 seconds from Alistair Kirk (AKR McCurry BMW) after seven laps.

Third place went to Carl Phillips on his Suzuki, who began the weekend with a 56-point lead in the championship standings after dominating the series this year.

It was a similar story in race two, with pole man Irwin taking the lead and holding off Kirk once more to win by 1.2 seconds as he wrapped up his maiden Ulster Superbike victories in style in perfect conditions at Bishopscourt.

Gerard Kinghan, last year’s USBK champion, made it onto the podium in third on the IFS Yamaha after holding off Phillips in a dash to the line.

Irwin did not start Sunday's races and in race three, Kinghan edged out Kirk in a close finish by 01.60 seconds, with Ryan Gibson in third on the J. McCaw Suzuki ahead of Aaron Armstrong (Suzuki) from Lisnaskea.

In the fourth and final race, Kirk forced his way to the front and broke clear to wrap up a convincing win on his BMW by almost eight seconds from Phillips, who only just held off Stephen McAdoo (Kawasaki) and Gibson to claim the final rostrum place.

Ross Irwin (Kawasaki) won three of the Superbike Cup races and finished as the runner-up in the fourth, which went to Jonny Singleton.

Gary McCoy and Kevin Lavery earned two wins apiece in the Supertwin races, while Darryl Tweed won Saturday’s two Production twin races and Mark Abraham doubled up on Sunday.

In the Lightweight Supersport class, Kris Duncan was a triple winner, with Stephen McKeown winning the first race on Saturday. Jamie Lyons also won three times in the Moto3 class, with Gary McCoy taking a win in race one.

Cameron Dawson was the overall winner of all four Supersport 300/Junior Cup/Young Guns races.