Derek Sheils won the Open A Superbike race at the Cookstown 100 on Saturday on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki.

Picture: Pacemaker Press.

Derek McGee was declared the winner of the feature Superbike race at the Cookstown 100 from Derek Sheils.

The race was stopped twice following red flag incidents.

Picture: Pacemaker Press.

Derek McGee completed a hat-trick a the Cookstown 100 after being declared the winner of the feature Superbike race, which was red-flagged twice.

McGee held a slender advantage of only 0.092 seconds from Derek Sheils after three laps when the race was halted, with Adam McLean and Michael Sweeney also right in the mix.

Adam McLean won the Supersport race at the Cookstown 100 on Saturday on his McAdoo Racing Kawasaki team's home patch.
Picture: Pacemaker Press.

Paul Jordan finished fifth on his 600 Yamaha ahead of Neil Kernohan.

It was a disappointing end to the day, although fortunately the riders involved in the red flag incidents were reported to have escaped serious injury.

Adam McLean sealed a popular victory in the shortened Supersport race at the Cookstown 100, which was called a result after four laps.

The McAdoo Racing Kawasaki rider was setting the pace at the front from Derek McGee and Paul Jordan when the red flags came out, reportedly due to debris blown onto the course by the wind.

Derek Sheils (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki) leads Adam McLean (McAdoo Kawasaki) and Derek McGee (Lady B Kawasaki)

in the Open A Race at the Cookstown 100.

Picture: Pacemaker Press.

McLean was declared the winner by 0.3 seconds from McGee, with Magherafelt man Jordan a further half-a-second back in third on Alistair Russell’s Yamaha R6.

Derek Sheils took fourth on the Roadhouse Macau Racing Yamaha ahead of Michael Sweeney and Neil Kernohan.

Sheils made it six Superbike wins on the spin at the Cookstown 100 as he won the Open A race on the new-look Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki.

Postponed from Friday evening, he swept into the lead of the race ahead of McLean and McGee with nothing between the top three.

Derek McGee (J.McC Roofing/KMR Kawasaki) leads Adam McLean (McAdoo Racing Kawasaki)

in the Supertwin race at the KDM Hire Cookstown 100 on Saturday.

Picture: Pacemaker Press.

McGee made a pass on McLean to move into second place, but the McAdoo Racing Kawasaki rider soon returned the favour. As they traded places, Sheils opened a lead of six-tenths-of-a-second after three laps.

As the race settled down, Sheils extended his lead to 1.7 seconds over McLean, who was holding off McGee in third as the top three pulled a gap over the chasing pack.

The Dublin rider was now in his groove and he opened a cushion of 3.3 seconds over McLean on the penultimate lap to put the race to bed, maintaining his winning streak in the class since 2016.

At the finish, Sheils’ winning margin remained the same, with McLean taking the runner-up spot half-a-second ahead of McGee. Thomas Maxwell, Paul Williams and Neil Kernohan were the top six.

Derek McGee made a winning debut on the Faraldo Racing Moto3 Honda at the KDM Hire Cookstown 100 on Saturday.
Picture: Pacemaker Press.

Earlier, McGee clinched a double as he won the Supertwin race on his Jason McCaw-backed KMR Kawasaki.

He had to dig deep to get the better of young gun Adam McLean, who pushed him all the way on the McAdoo Racing Kawasaki.

The lead changed hands on numerous occasions, but it was McGee who prevailed by half-a-second at the line, with Skerries man Michael Sweeney only six-tenths back on McLean.

McGee also made a winning debut on the Faraldo Racing Honda in the Moto3 race. The triple Irish champion led throughout on his ex-Moto3 Grand Prix bike, stretching his lead on the patchy roads and eventually taking the flag by 9.5 seconds from road racing stalwart Nigel Moore.

Kevin Fitzpatrick claimed third, a further 15 seconds in arrears, with Paul Gartland finishing the race in fourth place.

The Junior Support race went to Eoin O’Siochru, who snatched victory from Vincent Brennen by 2.2 seconds. Dominic Cottrell rounded out the top three.

Barry Davidson made a winning start to 2019 in the Junior Classic race, winning by 4.8 seconds from Ed Manly. Nigel Moore was back on the rostrum following his runner-up finish in the earlier Moto3 race, taking third position this time.

Roads closed around the 2.1-mile Orritor course in Co. Tyrone at 10am for the KDM Hire Cookstown 100 – the first Irish national road race of the season.

With wet and windy conditions early in the morning, the organisers announced a change to the programme, opting to run the Moto3/125GP race first, followed by the Junior Support and Junior Classic races.

Kyle White