Maiden Irish Supersport victory for Dominic Herbertson at Tandragee 100
Dominic Herbertson tamed the wet at the 60th anniversary Tandragee 100 to clinch his maiden Irish road racing Supersport victory on Saturday.
The Hexham racer was drafted into the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team as a replacement for Mike Browne, who sustained two broken ankles in a crash at the Cookstown 100.
Herbertson was competing at the undulating 5.3-mile Tandragee course in County Armagh for only the second time, but the 31-year-old seized his opportunity on the Dungannon team’s Yamaha R6 to deliver a hard-fought victory in the rain.
He held off Cookstown 100 hat-trick hero Michael Sweeney (EM Building Yamaha) for the win by 0.6s, with third going to impressive Czech rider Michal Dokoupil (DAS Trans Racing Yamaha).
“I’m delighted to win this race, I came here with no expectations after John offered me the bike,” said Herbertson.
“I surprised myself in qualifying as I’ve only been here once before. This is my first national road race Supersport win and I could not be happier for the Burrows’ lads after last weekend.
“I want to say thanks to John and everyone in the team that made this a fun weekend.”
The race was cut to four laps and was stopped on the final lap and a result declared when Tom Robinson came off, escaping unhurt.
Ballymena man Neil Kernohan came through on corrected time to take fourth on his Yamaha R6, almost 14 seconds behind Dokoupil, with Mullingar’s Thomas Maxwell four seconds back in fifth spot (Honda).
Welsh rider Paul Williams rounded out the top six on his Triumph 675.
The Junior Support race was won by 20-year-old Jack Oliver from fellow Limavady man Michael Gahan, while Barry Davidson edged out Nigel Moore to win the Junior Classic race.
Clerk of the Course Anne Forsythe took the call to abandon the meeting around 3.30pm following three red-flag incidents – all non-serious – in the same area of the course.