Andrew Murphy returned to winning ways at the weekend when he took three race wins at the Dunlop Masters Superbike Championship.

Andrew Murphy returned to winning ways at the weekend when he took three race wins at the July round of the Dunlop Masters Superbike Championship.

The Mountcollins-based rider had not won a race since last season when he finished runner in the Supersport Pro championship.
This year he is contesting the Moto 400 class and try as he may he could not beat Dundalk’s Damien Horgan in any of the nine rounds that took place so far this year.

After finding a new set-up and improved carburettors in his Honda NC 30 he turned his season-long deficit on its head by winning all three events and by setting a new lap record for the class that had stood since 2007.

The second Moto 400 race of the weekend was also happy hunting grounds for Duagh’s Mike Sheeran who finished third and stood on a Dunlop Masters podium for the first time.

Murphy has consolidated his second place in the class championship standings and Honda RVF rider Sheeran has moved into third place after the weekend

Both bikes were prepared by Abbeyfeale’s Davy Broderick who said: “A win for the boy is a win for the team and is a win for me.”

Broderick is fifth in the championship.
Darragh Crean narrowly missed out on a SuperTwin race win. The Tralee-based Aprilia rider led his third race of the weekend until the very last lap.
The race was run in wet but drying conditions and Crean elected to go out on wet weather tyres. The move was to his advantage over the opening laps but on a rapidly drying track his rival Kelan Smith, who was on slick tyres, seized the advantage and passed the Tralee man on the final tour. Crean finished second too in his other two races to maintain his second place in the class championship standings
Tom McElligott Sr was fifth in the Production Town race, finishing five please head of his son Tom Jr. They finished seventh and eighth respectively in their opening race on Saturday but withdrew from the very wet final event on Sunday on safety grounds.
It was a mixed weekend for Emmet O’Grady and one he will ultimately want to forget.

After qualifying in pole position for the SuperSport Pro race the best he could manage was second in race one on Saturday. He crashed out of race two on Sunday and was fourth in the final race in the class on his Yamaha R6 on Sunday.

His Superbike Pro races netted similar results. He was fifth in the opening two Superbike Races and was very unlucky to crash his Honda CBR 1000 in the very wet final race while challenging for second place.
His brother Evan was on a similar Honda for the first time and he was 15th, ninth and 12th across his three races as he got used to his new mount.
Jack O’Grady was one of the top performers all weekend in the Supersport Cup class, taking a trio of second places on his Suzuki GSXR.

Anthony O’Carroll had a subdued weekend on his Kawasaki after struggling with set-up issues all weekend. His bike is set for Road Racing after a bust summer on closed road events, and he will tackle this weekend’s Armoy Road Races in County Antrim, where he will be joined by Ardfert’s Stephen Walsh who will race in the classic category.

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