Dean Harrison’s dominance of the Oliver’s Mount race circuit continued on Sunday with the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki rider winning all four of his races including the feature Bob Smith Spring Cup, to make it seven wins from seven starts. There was also a brief appearance from Guy Martin who had travelled overnight from the Tandragee 100 to get some more track time on his Honda.
27-year old Harrison started the eight lap Bob Smith Spring Cup race from pole position on his Superstock-spec ZX-10R but it was Lee Johnston who grabbed the holeshot on his BMW with Harrison back in fourth behind Dan Hegarty (Top Gun Racing Honda) and Daley Mathison (Eddie Stobart Racing BMW).
Second time around Johnston still led but Harrison was up to third and by half race distance this had become first with Johnston and Hegarty pushed back to second and third respectively. With clear track in front of him, Harrison put the hammer down and got to within a tenth of a second of Martin’s outright lap record as he pulled clear to get his name on the trophy for the first time.
Hegarty overhauled Johnston on the penultimate lap to take second with the top six completed by Mathison, Jamie Coward (Radcliffe Racing BMW) and Ivan Lintin (Dafabet Devitt Racing Kawasaki).
Harrison dominated the opening Senior race after again overhauling Hegarty. The Nottingham rider led at the end of the opening lap before Harrison took control and in a similar pattern to Saturday, he then extended his lead on each and every lap.
He was six seconds clear at the end of the eight laps with Hegarty secure in second. Mathison wasn’t far behind in third with Johnston just holding off the late challenge of Lintin for fourth. Coward slid off uninjured at the Memorial on lap five whilst late entry Martin started from the back of the grid and came through to 12th on his Superstock Honda.
It was a similar story in the Open race only this time Harrison grabbed the lead off the line and had his most comfortable win of the weekend. His eventual winning margin was almost 12 seconds and although Hegarty was in second throughout, Johnston, Mathison and Coward stayed in his wheel tracks all race. The Honda rider took second though from Johnston and Coward as Mathison dropped back slightly on the penultimate lap.
Harrison’s hardest fought victory came in the Supersport race which was undoubtedly the race of the weekend as only a second covered the first four riders. Mathison grabbed the holeshot on his Suzuki with Harrison back in fourth at the end of the first lap, Lintin in second and Hegarty third.
Mathison’s lead was never more than 0.2s but Harrison overtook Hegarty on lap two and then did the same to Lintin a lap later. It took him until the final lap to get Mathison but he duly did it, aided by a lap just half a second outside the lap record, to take yet another win. County Durham’s Mathison finished in a good second with Hegarty and Lintin close behind in third and fourth. Coward took a lonely fifth with James Cowton in sixth.
Lintin took the Supertwins race after race leader Cowton lost his chain on the fourth lap whilst Joey Thompson, who’ll make his Isle of Man TT debut later this year, won the Lightweight and Open B races. Other race wins went to Adrian Harrison (Junior B), Justin Waring (Ultra-Lightweight) and Steve and Matty Ramsden (both F2 Sidecars).
