Beard to be feared: Bruce Anstey celebrates his win at Dundrod, which takes his overall tally at the Ulster Grand Prix to 12

A high-speed Superbike duel between the world’s fastest road racer Bruce Anstey and 14-times Dundrod winner Guy Martin ended dramatically last night when the latter high-sided out of the action at Irelands Corner on the sixth and final lap, an accident that brought out the red flags.

Fortunately, the 33-year-old Tyco BMW rider was not seriously injured, although he was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital with suspected broken ribs and subsequently ruled out of the race.

The result of the race went back to lap five and although Martin was leading at the time, he was excluded from the results, handing victory to Anstey, riding the Valvoline Padgetts Honda.

Anstey, who also recorded the fastest lap of the race on lap three when he went around the 7.4-mile circuit at 133.492mph, continued:  “I just love riding around Dundrod and it is good to get another victory here.”

Second place was credited to Manxman Conor Cummins, also Honda mounted, who had an abysmal start and fought through from sixth position at the end of the opening lap to finish 4.779seconds behind Anstey.

Cummins’ fastest lap was 132.370mph and he said: “That’s a mega result. I was awful off the line at the start and just got my head down.”

Third position went to last year’s best newcomer Peter Hickman, who rode a blinding race with a fastest lap of 132.413mph on lap four and finished just over half a second behind Cummins.

Lee Johnston, Ian Hutchinson (with gear linkage problems) and Michael Dunlop all retired from the red-hot action. Hutchinson and Johnston bowed out at the end of lap three when in the leading group, while Dunlop followed a lap later having improved from 11th on lap one to fifth.

The top six of what was a dramatic race was completed by Dan Kneen, Keith Amor and William Dunlop. This was the only race following numerous red flags throughout qualifying, with the Clerk of the Course Noel Johnston stating that: “Due to decreasing visibility it was impossible to run any more races.”

Results: Dundrod 150: 1st B. Anstey avg. speed 131.196mph, 2nd C. Cummins 130.425, 3rd P. Hickman 130.332, 4th D. Kneen 129.258, 5th K. Amor 129.054, 6th W. Dunlop 128.995.

Roy Harris

Padgetts rider wins only race of the day as red flag cuts racing short

Bruce Anstey took victory in the Topaz Airport Road Service Station Dundrod 150 Superbike race as racing got underway at the 2015 Metzeler Ulster Grand Prix.

The Padgett’s rider finished a comfortable 4.78 seconds ahead of Connor Cummins and Peter Hickman, who put in an impressive performance on the Briggs Equipment BMW.

At the start it was Ian Hutchinson who had taken an early lead, before surrendering the position to Guy Martin when he was forced to retire his PBM Kawasaki with a broken gear linkage.

The order then remained unchanged until lap six, when race leader Martin crashed out of the race at Ireland’s, causing the race to be red flagged. The Tyco rider was unhurt, but the incident brought racing to a close for the day as light began to fade.

Race winner Anstey said:

“Guy was flying. I was having a good run with him and I was going to give it a go on the last lap.

“I knew where he was faster than me and where I was slow, but then he was just on the gas a bit too early and he just high sided off, so it was a bit of a shame. It was a really good race up to then, I was really enjoying it.”

Second placed Cummins, who missed the event last year through injury, was pleased to return to the podium at Dundrod.

Cummins said:

“I’m happy to be on the podium again and I was chuffed with the way the Honda is working around the course today. It’s a big credit to the team and I can’t wait to get going for Saturday. We’ll have a good rest and see if we can get to number one.”

Qualifying for all classes took place earlier in the day, ahead of Saturday’s Metzeler Ulster Grand Prix.

Guy Martin took pole for Saturday’s Superbike races, ahead of Anstey and Hutchinson, with a 132.235mph lap.

Lee Johnston set the pace in the Supersport session, leading Anstey and Martin on his 675 Triumph. The trio were closely followed by William Dunlop and Keith Amor.

In the Supertwins, Glenn Irwin’s 117.994mph lap put him ahead of two-time winner Ivan Lintin, James Cowton and Daniel Cooper.

In the Ultralightweight class, Christian Elkin continued to set the pace, taking pole ahead of Adam McClean and Paul Jordan, while Sam Wilson’s 250cc Honda led Neil Kernohan and Paul Robinson in the Lightweights.

Roads will close at 9.30am on Saturday, and a full programme of racing is scheduled to take place.