2018 Irish Motorcycle Racing ‘Young Racer of the Year’ Caolán Irwin, got his 2019 campaign off to a flying start at Mondello Park.
Irwin dominated the Supersport class at the Dunlop Masters Superbike Championship season opener.
Riding his 2018 Yamaha R6, while his new Kawasaki ZX6R is completed, the Donegal rider took pole position and a hat-trick of wins, as he ramped up his preparations for a return to the British Superstock 600 championship in less than two weeks’ time.
Caolán will tackle his second season in the British Superbike paddock with continued backing from Oasis Bar, Clean Rubber, DS waste and James Gibbons & Sons, along with the support of the Young Racer of the Year sponsors, Dawn International, Mondello Park and EICL.
The Klmacrennan based rider will also be backed by new supporters, Irish Ohlins suspension agents ‘PCRS’ and Principal Insurance Ireland.
Irwin’s first race event of the season came after a busy winter test schedule and the benefits of his hard work were instantly clear, as he took pole position by more than seven tenths of a second, despite riding a standard engined Superstock machine.
The dominance continued into races two and three where the pole sitter took two lights to flag wins with fastest lap in each.
The front two rows of the grid were reversed for race three but it did not take long for Caolán to get to the front as he moved into second by the end of lap two and took the lead on lap three.
With reduced grip on a section of the track following an oil spill, the Donegal racer did not push hard once in the lead and while he took a comfortable third win he missed out on a hat-trick of fastest laps.
Following race three Caolán thanked his sponsors for their help in getting him out on track at the Masters.
He said: “This was a last minute decision and I’m really grateful to my sponsors for giving me the opportunity to get in some race mileage prior to the start of the BSB season.
“It’s always good to race at my home track and coming here as the Young Racer of the Year made it even more special.
“It’s great to be able to repay the faith people have shown in me by taking the wins and I can’t wait now to get over to the first round of the BSB”.
Caolán Irwin’s main focus for 2019 is the British Superstock 600 Championship but he is hoping to make it back to Mondello Park later in the year to continue his winning ways. Round one of the BSB takes place at Silverstone from April 19th to April 21st.
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