Daracore Racing’s Kevin Keyes and former Red Bull Rookie Casey O’Gorman were the stars of the show as the Principal Insurance Masters Superbike Championship competitors battled through another weather effected race weekend. Keyes took four race wins across the feature Superbike and Supersport classes, with O’Gorman taking the other victory, before the final Superbike race of the weekend was called off due to high winds.

The big story prior to the penultimate event of the 2024 Masters season was the championship debut of teenager Casey O’Gorman, who has spent his career so far racing outside of Ireland. The former British Talent Cup Champion and Red Bull Rookies front runner, was entered for the Supersport class and expected to be a big part of the fight at the front.

With O’Gorman added to the line-up the Supersport class provided the best action of the weekend as the top four were inseparable across the opening two races. After multiple lead changes it races one and two, it was Keyes who came out on top to take his first double of the season. The Daracore Racing rider’s championship opponents were right there with him throughout, with Oisin Maher taking two third places, behind O’Gorman, and Emmet O’Grady coming home fourth on both occasions.

The weather played a big part in the outcome of race three, as O’Gorman bravely went for slick tyres while all the other front runners, mindful of the championship situation, stuck to the safer wet tyre option. O’Gorman had to use all of his considerable ability to stay on track for the first few laps, but as he got heat into his tyres and the track began to dry out his brave move paid off. By the end of lap three O’Gorman was leading and able to cruise to an eighteen second win over Maher, with Keyes third and O’Grady fourth, having started from the back of the grid. The Supersport Cup produced two more wins for Jack Whearty, and a debut win for Shane Mulligan, but a sixth place finish in race three for Whearty allowed title rival Brandon Kavanagh to claw back some points as he took third.

Heading into the final race weekend of the season all eyes will now be on the Supersport class where fourteen points cover the top three overall while just thirteen separate first and second in the Cup class. Emmet O’Grady continues to lead the Championship, but his advantage has reduced. Keyes has moved into second place, twelve points behind, with Oisin Maher a further two points down, in third. The Supersport Cup is led by Whearty who, despite a run of six race wins from the last seven races, only holds a slender lead over Kavanagh.

A reduced entry for the Superbike class, due to clashing events elsewhere, was further depleted following a race one accident for Alan Kenny, leaving Kevin Keyes and Emmet O’Grady to battle it out at the head of the field. Races one and two finished in the order Keyes, O’Grady and Andrew Whearty, allowing Keyes to build up an impressive gap at the head of the points. Keyes may have extended his lead even further, if not for race three being abandoned following a second Superbike crash in the same place as Kenny’s race one incident. With a Supersport competitor also having suffered the same accident the Clerk of the Course decided on safety grounds not to continue with the remaining races.

The Superbike Cup battle was missing championship leader Declan Madden and this gave Ronan Waters and Seanie Smith the chance to make back some ground. Smith took two second places and Waters two thirds as Darren Tierney grabbed his first two Cup class wins. Waters now leads the way from Madden and Smith with his thirty one point advantage making him favourite to take the crown.