John Donnan was a former Irish Superbike Champion

Ardglass rider John Donnan was killed during the Supersport 600 race at the Northern Ireland road racing event.

The 42-year-old crashed at the chicane near the start-finish area when attempting to avoid another competitor.

Donnan's bike was catapulted into the nearby paddock area by the crash and narrowly avoided hitting a number of team officials and spectators.

Donnan was a former Irish Superbike Champion and had also run his own road racing team for a number of seasons.

He had competed in motorcycling events for 20 years.

Clerk of the course Bobby Edgar said that the meeting had been abandoned "as a mark of respect to John's family".

"The North Armagh Motorcycling Club extend its sympathy to John's family. We have done a lot of work on the circuit to improve safety but it's a dangerous sport," said Mr Edgar.

There had been an earlier crash on the same part of the circuit in Saturday's meeting although that rider was not seriously injured.

Earlier, Cameron Donald had produced a record-breaking lap to win the first open race at the meeting.

Donald became the first rider to produce a sub-three minute lap in the event by charging to an average speed of 106.3mph on the circuit.

The Uel Duncan Honda rider edged out Dubliner Martin Finnegan by .20sec while Keith Amor took third place.

William Dunlop took victory in the concurrently run 250cc race.