Dean Dillon bags treble at Seaforde to extend championship lead

The 22-year-old started the day as he meant to go on with a comfortable win on the LDG Yamaha over Justin Reid (Justwin Can-Am DS450Xmx) after Marc McLernon, who was lying second, retired on lap four with a broken axle on the TDG Yamaha, after landing the from start/finish jump.

“I knew from the first lap that the set up felt good and in race one I got the hole-shot,” said Dillon.

"I hit the groove right away and didn’t worry who was behind. I pulled a decent gap and just controlled the race.”

Banbridge rider Davy Cowan got the hole-shot in race two and led for the opening two laps before Dillon hit the front on lap three to win from Cowan, with Reid completing the rostrum.

McLernon was black-flagged in the race and explained: “I forgot to tighten the bearing carrier and the chain came loose.”

Dillon completed his treble in race three after taking the lead on the opening lap after Justin Reid, the initial leader, slid wide at Turn 1. McLernon, despite a puncture, finished second with Cowan third after Reid retired two laps from home.

“It couldn’t have went much better,” added Dillon.

In the Premier Championship, Dillon has 236 points with on Cowan 198.

Fifteen-year-old Ross Dillon is a rising star in quad racing and on Saturday he was unbeaten in the semi expert class, claiming the overall from Lisburn’s Dean Young with Matthew Gilchrist third.

It was a big day for the Dillon family as Luke Dillon was the overall winner in the clubman class from race one winner Gavin Toner.

Dillon came through to fourth in race one and in race two he had to work hard to snatch the lead from Toner on the last lap. Dillon was in charge of race three from the third lap finishing well ahead of Jack Minish.

Coleraine’s Travis Troye continued his unbeaten run in the Y3 250 class claiming the overall.

With two wins and a second Newry’s Korie Murry won the Y2 class while Jenson Gilchrist wrapped up the Y1 class with three wins.

Neil Campbell and Ross Graham remain unbeaten in the sidecar class in 2023, adding three more wins at Seaforde. The Lisburn rider has racked up 148 Ulster championship victories in a career that has stretched over thirteen seasons.

With ten championships under his belt he still gets the same buzz out of racing and as yet, has no intention of quitting.

Saturday saw the reigning champions comfortably win the opening two motos but they gave themselves a bit of work to do in race three.

“The organisers watered the track before the race and it was really slippery,” Campbell explained.

"As we came down the hill we couldn’t get stopped and nearly went straight through the fence. We had to come from last to win. It certainly made it interesting.”

With two seconds and a third Andy and Adam McKibbin finished as the runners-up, while husband and wife team Jonny and Louise Wilson completed the top three.