Korie McGreevy is aiming to round off a ‘fantastic season’ on a high at the Sunflower Trophy meeting at Bishopscourt in Co Down this weekend when he goes up against some of the leading names from the British Championship.
The Ballynahinch man could secure the Ulster Supersport title for Cookstown’s McAdoo Racing Kawasaki squad and is only a single point behind Randalstown’s Christian Elkin, despite McGreevy missing several races this season due to team owner Winston McAdoo’s long-standing tradition of never permitting his bikes to be raced on a Sunday.
McGreevy has a strong British Championship pedigree himself after winning the Superstock 600 title in 2019 and is relishing the chance to compete against heavyweight names including British Superbike rider and last year’s Sunflower Trophy winner Charlie Nesbitt; former Sunflower winner and 2023 National Superstock 1000 champion Richard Kerr; Scott Swann — third in this year’s Superstock 1000 Championship and a multiple race winner; British Supersport race winner and newly crowned National Sportbike Champion Richard Cooper, and National Superstock contender David Allingham.
McGreevy has been in red-hot form in the Supersport class this year but it’s his progress on the McAdoo Kawasaki Superbike which has given him the most satisfaction.
“That’s what has pleased me the most this year, but we’ve had a fantastic season, winning 28 races and over 40 podiums, so it’s definitely been one of the nicer seasons,” McGreevy said.
“The Superbike has come along nicely and it has just taken a bit of time, but we’ll hopefully have a good run this weekend and there’s some really fast guys here, so we’ll see how we fare.
“I’m under no false illusions this weekend because obviously these guys are in top form at the moment, so all I can do is get my head down and do my own thing, and hopefully have a couple of good races.
“But I’m looking forward to it and it’s nice to see quick guys coming to the Sunflower because you like to see these races being well supported, and you like to see everyone at it.
“Hopefully the crowd comes along to see what’s being put on this weekend.”
Along with McGreevy, fellow Ulster Superbike regulars aiming to take the fight to the British Championship big guns include Ulster Superbike Champion Jonny Campbell, Ryan Gibson, Ross Irwin and former British Superstock and Supersport race winner Andy Reid, who clinched his first victory of the season at Bishopscourt at the end of September on the J McC Roofing Racing Kawasaki.
A quality line-up also includes Luke Stapleford — runner-up in the British Supersport Championship behind Jack Kennedy — Cameron Dawson, Jamie Lyons, Jeremy McWilliams and British Supersport GP2 Champion Owen Jenner, while road racing star Mike Browne joins last year’s double Supersport winner Cooper on the BPE by Russell Racing Yamaha machines.
Nottingham’s Cooper will also start as favourite in the Supertwin class on the Jack Reid Car Sales/KMR Kawasaki, while Letterkenny’s Caolan Irwin will ride an Aprilia 660 for the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team.
Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 9am on Friday followed by a nine-race programme, including the opening Superbike, Supersport and Supertwin races.
On Saturday, morning warm-up takes place from 9.15am ahead of the main 13-race programme, including the headline Sunflower Trophy race — held for the first time in 1977 when Joey Dunlop claimed the spoils — immediately after the lunch break.
Meanwhile, the final round of the World Superbike Championship takes place this weekend at Jerez in Spain.
Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider Jonathan Rea is hoping to build on his brace of top-five results from last weekend’s penultimate round at Estoril in Portugal before regrouping for 2025.
The six-time Champion is 13th in the standings after a challenging first season on the Yamaha R1.
Turkey’s Toprak Razgatlioglu is on the cusp of winning the title for BMW and leads Italian rider Nicolo Bulega by 46 points with three races left.