Jonny Campbell hails breakthrough Ulster Superbike victory in season-opener at Bishopscourt

Campbell, who qualified on the front row in second place on the Magic Bullet Yamaha R1, fought his way past Newcastle’s Daniel Matheson and pole man Ryan Gibson on the first lap and never looked back.

The 19-year-old produced an assured performance as he splashed his way to victory by almost eight seconds after eight laps of the 1.8-mile course.

Matheson (LMLR BMW) claimed the runner-up spot by just under one second from Korie McGreevy on the McAdoo Racing Kawasaki, who was riding his 600cc machine against the more powerful Superbikes on Saturday.

Campbell was denied the chance of a double after the organising Temple Club made the call to abandon the meeting around 3pm due to persistent rain and standing surface water.

However, the young prospect was delighted with his start to the new campaign and is now looking ahead to round two as Bishopscourt hosts the Enkalon Trophy meeting over the Easter bank holiday weekend on March 30.

“We got a good start and Daniel (Matheson) and Ryan (Gibson) were in front of me into turns one and two, but as soon as I got past them I just put the hammer down for the first two laps,” said Campbell.

“When I came around I saw ‘+5’ so I took it handy until the end.

“The Yamaha works really well and I don’t know if I’d want to go with any other manufacturer at the minute because the R1 is nearly perfect; it works in any conditions and I’ve gelled with it.

“There were a few puddles at the top chicane and into the right-hander after Ringawaddy, so you just had to be careful.

“It’s my first ever Ulster Superbike win,” he added. “I’ve had a tough past few years and last season was really hard with bike issues and stuff this time last year.

“But we got everything gathered up and worked over the winter. We got the bike sorted out the way we needed to.”

Campbell finished as the championship runner-up in 2023 behind Jason Lynn, who is taking a sabbatical from racing after marrying his partner Catherine.

Lynn’s replacement in the J McC Roofing Racing team, former British championship race winner Andy Reid, was also absent on Saturday due to a previously booked holiday but will make his debut for Jason McCaw’s team at the Enkalon meeting.

His absence gave Campbell an opportunity to steal an early march in the standings and he grabbed the chance with both hands.

“When I heard Andy (Reid) wasn’t coming I knew this was a weekend to try and get as many points over Andy and Korie (McGreevy) as I could,” Campbell said.

“We’ll just keep looking forward and hopefully we can do the same in the next race.”

Englishman Matheson (LMLR Yamaha) won the Road Racing Ireland ‘man of the meeting’ award after he fended off Christian Elkin (Dynocentre NI Yamaha) by three-tenths-of-a-second to seal his first Ulster Supersport success.

The race was rerun over six laps when leader McGreevy was caught out by the conditions on the McAdoo Kawasaki, bringing out the red flags.

Andrew Smyth completed the rostrum places in third on the MPW Kawasaki.

Jeremy McWilliams qualified fifth on the J McC Roofing Racing Yamaha R6 but did not participate in the race. The former Grand Prix winner is set to ride the machine in the Supersport races at the North West 200 in May.

Ballynahinch rider McGreevy dominated the Supertwin race to begin his title defence with a maximum points haul.

“It wasn’t too bad and I was happy enough to get a few laps because I only had the 600 and Supertwin with me today because we had problems with the Superbike,” McGreevy said.

“I was happy to get a podium on the 600 in the big bike race and then a win on the Twin.

“We had a wee problem with the Superbike in testing but we’ll be all guns blazing in the next round ready to give Andy Reid a run for his money.

“It’s just been a case of getting early points on the board and going out and testing the conditions, so I’m happy enough.”

The McAdoo Racing rider was almost 32 seconds clear of Elkin at the flag, who somehow survived a massive slide on the first lap, costing him any chance of fighting at the front.

Darryl Tweed won the Lightweight Supersport race on the M&D Racing Kawasaki from Graham McAleese in a thrilling finish, with only 0.074s between them.

Alexander Rowan and Ruben Sherman-Boyd were the respective winners of the Moto3 and Supersport 300 races respectively.