JOHN Burrows' Cookstown Burrows Engineering Racing team won four road racing titles last year and they got their 2017 campaign off to a flying start at the Tandragee 100 meeting which was the first pure road race of the year. In Superbike qualifying, Derek Sheils showed why he is Irish Superbike Champion by taking pole position on his Cookstown Burrows Engineering Suzuki with a time of 3m.00.73, a mighty four seconds clear of William Dunlop who was on the Mar-Train Racing Yamaha R1. In the Open race Sheils showed no mercy to his rivals and took a start to finish victory, beating Dunlop by over fourteen seconds and the Dubliner was the only rider to lap under the three minutes mark. Sheils was looking forward to a repeat performance in the feature Tandragee 100 Superbike race but sadly the race was cancelled because of deteriorating weather and track conditions. Sheils qualified fourth for the Supersport 600 race which was staged in soaking wet conditions. Sheils, riding the Cookstown Burrows Engineering Honda CBR 600 RR, erred on the side of caution but nipped past Paul Jordan on the last lap to claim third place behind Derek McGee and William Dunlop. The Supertwins race joined the Tandragee 100 race on the cancelled list so Sheils did not get the chance to give his Cookstown Burrows Engineering Kawasaki 650 its first race outing of the year. Had the race gone ahead, Michael Sweeney would also have raced a Cookstown Burrows Engineering Kawasaki as John Burrows had kindly lent the Skerries rider a machine after his own mount submitted a sick note. Reflecting on the meeting, John Burrows said: "It's a pity that the Tandragee 100 and Supertwins races were lost but overall I'm very happy. Derek was right to play it safe in the Supersport race while he was totally in control of the Open race and won it at a canter. "He was the only man to dip under the three minutes lap time with a 2.58.52 and I feel that if he had been pushed he could have threatened Michael Dunlop's lap record of 2.56.01. It's certainly an encouraging start to the season and we are now really fired up for the Cookstown 100. "At Cookstown, Derek will have Superbike, Supersport and Supertwins machinery at his disposal and hopefully we can also get him out for a few laps on our new GSXR 1000 Superstocker. I've also made our spare Supertwins machine available to our former team member Michael Sweeney should he be unable to get his own machine ready in time. "Finally, thanks to TAS Racing who provided a rear shock for Derek's Superbike at Tandragee after his own developed a fault." Sheils commented: "I always wanted to win a Superbike race at Tandragee so I'm delighted to have ticked that box. I got clear of my rivals early on in the Open race and just kept an eye on the pit board and controlled the race with not too much bother. The 600 race was held in very tricky conditions and with very little grip it was a case of just riding steady and bringing the Honda home, we managed a podium so I was happy enough. I'm now ready for Cookstown action!"Report By Burrows Engineering