Sunflower Trophy winner Charlie Nesbitt 'absolutely loves' Ireland's top short circuit meeting at Bishopscourt
Two-time Sunflower Trophy winner Charlie Nesbitt hopes the event will remain part of his plans in the future after the British Superbike contender retained the famous silverware on Saturday at Bishopscourt in Co Down.
Nesbitt had to dig in to keep Eglinton’s David Allingham at bay during the first half of the 12-lap race until slower riders came into play, with Nesbitt scything his way through to open a slight advantage of a few tenths of a second.
The 23-year-old began to up the ante over the final laps on his MasterMac Honda Superbike and went on to win the sun-splashed feature race by 1.3s from Allingham (SMS/Nicholl Oils Racing BMW).
Richard Kerr was five seconds back in third on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing BMW but had to fight off the fast closing Scott Swann (Swann Racing/Hunts Honda) on the last lap, securing the final podium spot by just 0.192s
Nesbitt made his debut at Bishopscourt last October and says he has fallen in love with Ireland’s top short circuit meeting.
“Hopefully, I want to be coming back again because I absolutely love the race meeting so there’s no reason why not,” said the Swindon rider, asked if he intends to come back in 2025 to defend the trophy.
“David had good pace and backmarkers definitely helped with that one.
“I was trying to find my way around with the wet patches and everything else, but I’m absolutely buzzing with the result – the fans have been great, and the championship has been fantastic and they absolutely loved it.
“It’s great to have my name on the trophy with the likes of Coops (Richard Cooper) and all the others who have won it.
“It’s nice to be able to enjoy it away from the BSB paddock and it’s a nice way to be able to round off the year.”
Nesbitt won the opening Superbike race on Saturday on a drying track from Korie McGreevy (McAdoo Racing Kawasaki) and later set a new Superbike lap record at 100.877mph (1m 05.093s) as he finished second behind Scott Swann in the final Superbike race.
Allingham lost nothing in defeat but said he ultimately came off second best when the leading pair encountered some slower riders in the Sunflower showdown.
“I kept him honest and had a go at him into the second corner and got past him but ran wide,” he said.
“I seemed to have a wee bit more corner speed than he had but it’s not bad on a ’stock with him on a Superbike.
“I was really pushing on to sit with him, especially out of the corners and I had a couple of big slides.
“I was unfortunate with the lappers on the last couple of laps; into the second chicane he got past a few lappers and I didn’t, and that created the gap.
“There was a few pounds for that Sunflower race so that can always make you go a bit faster!”
The Hillsborough Club’s two-day meeting brought the curtain down on the Irish motorcycling calendar for 2024.