Bishopscourt to host championship

Bishopscourt to host championship

16 August 2017

THE Masters Superbike Championship is revving up for one of the annual highlights of its calendar as it heads for Bishopscourt on Sunday.

Rounds 16 and 17 of the Masters take place on the fast former airfield circuit in what will be the penultimate race weekend of the Masters season.

As an added attraction the Bishopscourt event will include the Norman Brown Trophy feature race for the fastest Superbike and Supersport competitors over the course of the event. 

The feature race will have its own prize fund separate to the Masters races, with £500 going to the race winner out of a total fund of £1,150.

The Masters Superbike class has closed up recently with two wins in a row for Charles Stuart helping the Parker Transport-backed Yamaha rider to close the gap to championship leader Richie Ryan by 40 points. 

Ryan, with his Mobil-1 backed R1, had won the previous five races and remains the man to beat in the championship, as he holds a 73 point lead over Stuart. 

Third placed Mark O’Byrne, with his Ray Quinn Solicitors BMW, is under increasing pressure from Luke Johnston, as the reigning Supersport Champion gets used to his Unlimited Industries backed BMW.

With a number of riders expected to return to the Superbike class at Bishopscourt, Ryan and Stuart will have a fight on their hands to continue their winning ways. 

Gerard Kinghan is expected to make his comeback to the series having missed two events while Peter Moloney and Brian McCormack could also return following massive accidents at the July rounds of the Masters at Mondello Park.

In the Supersport, Jason Lynn, on the Walter Bell Suzuki continues to lead from Kingsbury Packaging’s Ross Patterson, with these two riders having shared ten of the 14 race wins so far 

this season. 

Their main opposition has come from Ballynahinch’s Korie McGreevy who has made occasional appearances at the Masters this season and taken two wins.

The build up to the Masters at Bishopscourt can be followed on the Masters Superbike Championship and Bishopscourt Racing Circuit’s Facebook pages. Information on the championship along with the Bishopscourt entry form can be found atwww.mastersuperbike.ie.