Classy Shiels blasts his way to emphatic Enkalon glory

Classy Shiels blasts his way to emphatic Enkalon glory

3 April 2013

DUBLINER Derek Shiels showed an Easter Saturday masterclass winning the Enkalon Trophy for the second time at Bishopscourt, winning both legs of the feature race.

Shiels started the first race well, quickly moving into the lead on lap one followed by Jonny Buckley, Stephen Thompson and Marshall Neill, all hot on his heels.

Portadown man Marshall Neill looked like the best rider to challenge for the lead after qualifying in ninth position he was quick to make up ground and move into second position.

Once he was in second position Neill began to catch Shiels, who had a 0.6 seconds lead after four laps of the lap race, before the Dubliner upped the pace leaving Neill to wait until the ninth lap of the race when he was in a position to fight for the lead once again.

By this stage of the race the two men had pulled away from the pack and Shiels was able to cover himself to stop Neill making a pass. But when the two men crossed the line it took a photo finish to separate first and second as Shiels won by just 0.030 seconds as Stephen Thompson came home in third position, although Neill did have the consolation of taking the fastest lap of the day.

In the second race Neill was hoping for another good start to get quickly onto Shiels heels once again, but as Shiels hit the front running on lap one Neill was back in eighth position trying to fight his way through the pack.

Shiels looked confident at the front once again as he moved away from the pack and by the halfway stage of the race Shiels had moved up to fifth position, before he moved into third position behind Thompson towards the end of the race.

At the end of race two Shiels took the chequered flag with a 3.3 seconds lead from Thompson in second position, with Neill almost three seconds behind him in third position.

As Shiels took the Enkalon Trophy after the two legs of racing Thompson finished second and Neill finished the day third in the overall standings.

In the first Supersport class race Belfast man Carl Philips was catching the race leader Marshal Neill, before Neill’s race ended on lap three after an accident at Fairways.

That left Philips to pull away from the pack and lead them home, with Mark Conlon in second and Alan McClean in third.

In the second race McClean took the chequered flag 0.462 seconds ahead of Jonny Harvey in second and Marshal Neill in third, as Philips didn’t finish the race.

Despite a number of accidents during the day’s racing the worst injury sustained by any rider was a broken wrist.