Richard Kerr "over the moon" with maiden Sunflower Trophy success and Superbike treble at Bishopscourt

The County Donegal rider led throughout the 10-lap blue riband race to secure the prestigious silverware and £1,500 top prize from Ulster Superbike champion Alastair Seeley.

Kerr, who won twice this season in the National Superstock 1000 Championship on the AMD Motorsport Honda and finished fifth in the standings overall, joins a sparkling list of past winners of the famous trophy, including Joey Dunlop, Steve Hislop and Jonathan Rea.

Lining up from second place on the grid alongside pole man Seeley, Kerr took the lead on the first lap and never looked back.

He was 1.5s ahead of Seeley after three laps and extended his advantage to a comfortable 2.4s at the half-way mark in the race.

With clear track ahead of him on a sunny but breezy day at Bishopscourt, Kerr refused to ease off the throttle and continued to stretch his advantage, winning in the end by 6.2s.

Seeley was on his own in second place on the IFS Yamaha R1, 7.6s ahead of Jason Lynn (J McC Roofing Kawasaki).

“It’s amazing and I honestly never thought that I would do it in my first year here on a big bike,” said Kerr, who was a double winner in the Supersport class at the event in 2019.

“I’ve won Sunflower races before on a Triumph in the Supersport class but that was three years ago, but I felt better on the big bike and it’s great to come out on top.

“Alastair knows this place inside out and he is fast around here so to be able to beat him and pull a bit of a gap is a job well done.

“I just knew I had to hit all my markers and from riding over in the UK, I know one quick lap isn’t good enough and it needs to be every lap,” he added.

“These races are only half the length of the races in the UK so it’s a wee bit easier, but in your head you know it’s hell for leather because the race is so short; any mistake on the first lap and you’ve only got nine laps to catch back up again.

“But it all went to plan. There were a few backmarkers at the end and I ended up doing an extra lap because they thought I was a backmarker and the chequered flag never went out!

“I thought I had better do another lap just in case, but I saw my team cheering and I knew I had it won at that stage.”

Jonny Campbell finished fourth on the BPE Yamaha ahead of Eunan McGlinchey on the 600 McAdoo Kawasaki, who was only 0.2s behind.

Simon Reid rounded out the top six on the Start Solar Honda Fireblade.

Runner-up Seeley had claimed pole on the IFS Yamaha R1 but the Carrickfergus man could do nothing to stop Kerr disappearing into the distance.

“I was trying hard and obviously I haven’t won the Sunflower – I’ve won almost everything else except it,” Seeley said.

“We gave as good as we got and Richard was just pulling a wee bit out on every lap, and then it got to that point when he could just sit safe.

“I just kept an eye on my board to get second place, so it’s a few more quid in the bank and I’ll come back to have another go at the Sunflower next year I’m sure.”

Jonny Campbell finished fourth on the BPE Yamaha ahead of Eunan McGlinchey on the 600 McAdoo Kawasaki, who was only 0.2s behind.

Simon Reid rounded out the top six on the Start Solar Honda Fireblade.

The Sunflower race was cut from 12 laps to 10 after being restarted following a non-serious red flag stoppage.

Earlier in the day, Kerr followed up his victory over McGlinchey in the wet on Friday with another win in Saturday’s opening Superbike race, which he won by four seconds from Seeley with Lynn sealing the last rostrum place.

Seeley’s chances were thwarted when he ran onto the grass before re-joining the track.

Nottingham’s Richard Cooper was also in excellent form, claiming a four-timer after winning both Supersport and Supertwin races.

Cooper triumphed in the Supersport opener on the BPE Yamaha by Russell Racing, taking the win by 3.5s from McGlinchey with Sam Laffins third on his Kawasaki. Seeley finished fourth.

The 2018 Sunflower Trophy winner completed a double in the class with victory in race two by eight seconds over McGlinchey.

Ballynahinch man Korie McGreevy was third on the Century Racing Yamaha ahead of Seeley, with Adam McLean (McLean Racing Yamaha) and Jonny Campbell (Magic Bullet Yamaha) rounding out the top six.

Ian Hutchinson was 10th on the second of the BPE Yamaha by Russell Racing machines while 21-time Isle of Man TT winner Michael Dunlop was 13th riding a McAdoo Kawasaki.

McGlinchey edged out Cooper in a hotly contested opening Supertwin race by a few hundredths of a second on the line, but the McAdoo Kawasaki rider was later disqualified from the results for a ‘technical infringement’ after an appeal was lodged, promoting Aaron Spence to the runner-up spot.

With McGlinchey absent from race two, Cooper cruised to another win by more than 11 seconds to clinch the Junior Sunflower Trophy on the J McC Roofing/KMR Kawasaki.

Cookstown’s Gary McCoy (Madbros Kawasaki) narrowly held off Carl Phillips (McKnight Suzuki) for the runner-up spot.

Teenager Jack Burrows won the first Moto3 race on a drying track on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Honda, with Peter Willis (MLav VisionTrack Honda) taking the win in race two.

The Sunflower Trophy meeting returned to the calendar this year for the first time since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.