Dunlop takes Cookstown double and breaks lap record

Michael Dunlop secured a win double and broke the absolute course record at the Cookstown 100 road races on Saturday.

Dunlop, riding a V2 Ducati, led from start to finish in the Supersport race, run in dry conditions over nine laps of the 2.1-mile Orritior course.

McGee, on an ex-Ten Kate World Supersport machine, pushed Dunlop for much of the race but trailed by four seconds at the chequered flag in finishing second.

Michael Sweeney, Darryl Tweed and Kevin Keyes made up the top five.

Later in the day BMW-mounted Dunlop ran out the victor in the feature Cookstown 100 event, holding a 5.6 seconds advantage over early leader Sweeney, with McGee a further 16.5 seconds in arrears in third.

The Ballymoney rider set the new lap record on his sixth circuit of seven with a speed of 91.773mph, one minute 22.377 seconds.

Mullingar rider McGee was a convincing winner of the Moto3 class, coming home 18.75 seconds ahead of Manxman Dan Sayle, with Nigel Moore third.

The Republic of Ireland racer then brought his KMR Kawasaki home 1.4 seconds ahead of Skerries man Sweeney in the Supertwins race, with Tweed occupying the final podium spot, Manx newcomer Joe Yeardsley fourth and Neil Kernohan fifth.

McGee, a former Irish Superbike, Supersport and Supertwin champion, is now based in the Netherlands and is making his first appearance at the Cookstown races since 2019.

Darryl Tweed won both the Lightweight Supersport and Classic Superbike races.

Saturday's race programme was punctuated by red flag incidents, including lengthy delays following crashes in the Open B and Open A races.

Friday's action was restricted to free practice sessions because of the wet and windy weather at the county Tyrone course.