By After Darryl Tweed winning a crackerjack Classic Superbike race, edging Marcus Simpson, Joe Loughlin’s Super Twins (B) race triumph on aggregate timing over Cowton Racing’s William Grant, the stage was set for the evening’s most anticipated Cookstown encounter, the nine-lap Open (A) Invitational contest, that welcomed the twenty-three fastest competitors from qualifying sessions.
Challenged off the race start, into Gorton, pole-sitter, last minute C100 entrant Michael Dunlop MBE (MD Racing BMW) by lap one’s optimisation had opened a one second plus gap to Martin Jones Racing’s Michael Sweeney.
By lap three, Dunlop MBE’s advantage stretched out to almost four seconds.
His lead would go onto surpass 9.42 seconds at lap six’s conclusion, before the race was red flagged.
At the time of the red flag, reigning Ulster Superbike Road Race Champion Sweeney held second, 0.24 in front of afore-mentioned yesteryear SBK race runner-up Simpson with Darryl Tweed (JLR Racing by Ability Energy Ltd – Honda), new record Supersport lap-time holder Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing Powered by Prosper2 – Ducati) close behind.
With fifty percent race distance covered, Dunlop MBE took his Irish road race wins tally to an incredible 127.
Sweeney, Simpson, Tweed, Jordan, were classified second, third, fourth and fifth.
Neil Kernohan, Kevin Keyes, James Chawke, Sean Brolly, Don Gilbert completed the leader-board top ten.
2026 Cookstown 100 – Friday Evening Race Results:
Classic Superbike:
1st – Darryl Tweed
2nd – Marcus Simpson
3rd – Graham McAleese
4th – Don Gilbert
5th – Anthony McColgan
6th – Dennis Booth
7th – Noel Carroll
8th – Neil Rutledge
9th – Andy Kildea
10th – James Rothery
Classic Supersport:
1st – Ryan Whitehall
2nd – Adam Randles
Super Twins (B):
1st – Joe Loughlin
2nd – William Grant
3rd – Daniel Pearson
4th – Michael Clyde
5th – John O’Donovan
6th – Nigel Moore
7th – Jack Andrews
8th – Graeme Smallwoods
9th – Chris Meyer
10th – Dallas Reynolds
11th – Jason Whelan
12th – Dave Walsh
13th – Dale Brew
14th – Chris Ganley
15th – Nick Healy
16th – Brian Fuidge
17th – James Rothery
Open (A) Invitational:
1st – Michael Dunlop MBE
2nd – Michael Sweeney
3rd – Marcus Simpson
4th – Darryl Tweed
5th – Paul Jordan
6th – Neil Kernohan
7th – Kevin Keyes
8th – James Chawke
9th – Sean Brolly
10th – Don Gilbert
11th – Richard McLoughlin
12th – Darryl Anderson
13th – Dean McMaster
14th – Andy Farrell
15th – Lee Hara
16th – Michael Gahan
17th – Shaun Buckle
18th – Liam Chawke
19th – Martin Morris
Photo credit: Derek Wilson
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
