Quote
Irish rider Derek Sheils was unstoppable as he captured the famous Enkalon Trophy for the second time at Bishopscourt’s Easter Saturday showpiece.
Sheils, who previously won the silverware at Aghadowey in 2004, was victorious in both legs of the feature race - which counted towards the Irish Superbike Championship - on a cold but dry and bright day at the Co Down circuit.
In race one, Sheils quickly moved into the lead on Chris Dowd’s Kawasaki ZX-10R on the first lap from Jonny Buckley (Ducati 1199) with Stephen Thompson (BMW) and Marshall Neill on Wilson Craig’s Honda in hot pursuit.
Portadown man Neill left himself with plenty of work to do after qualifying in ninth position but he rapidly made up ground and overhauled Buckley to move into second place.
He began to reel in Dubliner Sheils, whose lead at the end of lap four was 0.6s.
It seemed inevitable that Neill would soon be taking the fight to Sheils but the long time leader upped the pace at the front and it took British championship regular Neill until the ninth and final lap before he was in a position to challenge for the lead.
The pair had pulled well clear of Thompson, Alan Bonner, Mark Glasgow and Buckley as they locked horns on the last lap.
Neill attempted to line up a pass at Fairways but Sheils was wise to the threat and covered all bases as he fended off the last-gasp attack to hold onto the lead, taking the chequered flag in a near photo-finish as the pair flashed across the line together, separated only by 0.030s.
Neill had the consolation of the fastest lap of the day at 95.244mph.
Thompson finished third on his T&R Motorsport BMW over six seconds ahead of Bonner, with Glasgow and Buckley the top six.
Neill badly needed a fast start in the second leg but the race was as good as over as he languished in eighth place on the opening lap as Sheils hit the front.
Barring a catastrophic mistake by Sheils, the result never looked in doubt as he stretched away at the head of the field while Neill battled to make his way through the pack.
By lap five he had moved into fifth place and he continued to fight until the end, forcing his way into third behind Thompson race reached a conclusion.
Sheils closed out the victory by 3.3s over Thompson to secure the Enkalon Trophy - backed by Adelaide Insurance - with Neill almost a further three seconds in arrears ahead of Buckley, Bonner and Glasgow.
In the overall shake-up Thompson finished second in the 37th Enkalon Trophy standings after the two-leg race with Neill third.
Belfast’s Carl Phillips produced an impressive performance on the Sandown Honda to win the opening Supersport race from Mark Conlin, Alan McClean, Jason Lynn and Nico Mawhinney.
McClean won the second race by 0.462s from Jonny Harvey, Neill and Conlin after Phillips registered a DNF.
A number of accidents occurred, although the worst injury sustained was a broken wrist.
