This weekend Enniskillen and District Motorcycle Club members were treated to a two-day racing event at Bishopscourt race circuit in the latest round of the Ulster Superbike Championship.

The two-day format had practice sessions on Saturday morning followed by two races for each class and two further races on Sunday. Both days were blessed with elevated temperatures and dry conditions.

Jamie Lyons at just 17 is still the club’s youngest competitor whose collection of trophies and medals continue to grow with this weekend being no exception.

His weekend got off to a good start in the Moto 3 class, taking a win in race one and second place in race two. Sunday’s race one resulted in another second-place finish.

For the last race of the day Lyons had his eyes set on another podium only for his machine to develop a mechanical issue, forcing him to pull into pit lane. This weekend was set to be the teenager’s last outing aboard the smaller Honda 250 cc Moto 3 machine with his intentions then to focus on the Supersport Class.

The Supersport Pro class is fast and furious; and with Lyons, only recently making the move to the bigger machines, he was sitting comfortably in Saturday’s two races taking two seventh place finishes. Lyons stock 600cc Yamaha R6 was put to the test competing against full supersport tuned machines and despite the heavy competition, Lyons finished in sixth place in race one and was on the pace for race two, finishing in a superb fourth place, Lyons was only 2.5 seconds per lap slower than race winner, Alistair Seeley.

Saturday’s Production Twin class had three locals taking part.

Duane Lewis from Newtownbutler, who has been steadily improving this season, set the pace for the first day of the weekend by taking two third place finishes.

Local man Malcom Benson was hot on his heels finishing in fourth place in race one and eighth place finish in race two. In the same class Fintona’s Michael McKernan had two seventh place finishes.

Sunday saw Lewis step it up a gear by finishing in second place in the first race of the day, with Benson taking fourth place and McKernan in fifth.

In race two, with the top step in sight, disaster struck on the second lap when Lewis tucked the front of his machine on the fastest part of the circuit, crashing out and causing the race to be red flagged. Lewis, while unscathed, had caused considerable damage to his machine. In the restarted race it was McKernan who came home in fourth place and Benson in fifth.

The Pre-Injection 600cc class was another busy class with three local competitors.

Steven Love who is racing since 2018 started his weekend off with two second place finishes. Not to be deterred by Sunday’s blistering temperatures he turned up the heat securing a win in race one, followed by a second-place finish in race two, leaving him a prize taker in every race and achieving a 1.13(min) lap, his personal best fastest lap time and securing the championship lead.

In the same class it was club members Michael Carr and Ronan Harvey who kept a steady pace all weekend with Carr taking two seventh place finishes on Saturday and an eighth and ninth place result on Sunday. Harvey who was out on track for the first time this year went home with two 12ths, a 10th and ninth place finishes.

The new Pre-Injection 1000cc class which runs along with the 600s is yet to attract a full grid, however club member Ian McGarrigle was happy with his four second place finishes over the weekend.

Derek O’Donnell who has moved to the Superbike Cup class for 2022 was on the pace on Saturday managed to take a third place finish in race one.

However things didn’t work out in race two - holding the lead, O’Donnell was making his way through back markers at the last corner of the last lap; when he was cut off by another competitor which forced him off the bike. With only cosmetic damage to his Kawasaki ZX10 and some last-minute repairs, he was back on grid for Sunday’s races and despite feeling pain from the previous day’s antics, he finished the day with respectable fourth and third place finishes.

Faugheen 50

It was the Faugheen 50 Road Race in Co. Tipperary that clashed with the short circuit meeting meaning Adrian Heraty was the only Enniskillen club member to make the four hour journey to the quiet countryside location. Heraty, who himself will admit he’s had a bad spell of luck this season with breakdowns, was happy with his weekend results with a 13th and 16th place finish in the two Junior support races, and 15th in the Supertwin race.

The Enniskillen and District Motorcycle club will be running their round of the USBK at Bishopscourt on October 1. Coach transport and ticket information is available at www.enniskillenroadraces.co.uk