A searing and dusty Sunday saw over 19,000 fans converge at Mondello's racetrack for the fifth round of the British Superbike Championships (BSB).
They came from all over Ireland and Britain came to see the fastest, most spectacular biking action this country has seen this year. Riders wowed the crowds on machines capable of doing up to 200mph.
Scott Smart, nephew of twice former World 500cc champion Barry Sheene, took the maiden victory in the British Superbikes as he pushed his Hawk Kawasaki ahead of championship leader John Reynolds at the final corner of the last lap of a hard fought race. "I am dedicating my first win in the championship to my friends Steve Hislop, David Jefferies and, of course, Barry, who all died last year," said 27-year-old Smart as he received his trophy. "Hopefully they were watching from up there."
Japanese rider Yukio Kagayama, who took the winning double at round four of the BSB in Oulton Park, had to settle for fourth place in race one. Suzuki rider Reynolds, who led the class by 18 points, has now extended his lead to 33 points for the sixth round at Thruxton.
He took second place in the second Superbike race as Michael Rutter - pictured here - on his HM Plant Fireblade took the lead with Smart in third place.
Winner of last week's NorthWest 200 Superbike race, Rutter clocked up the fastest ever recorded speed on the Portrush course hitting 201.1 mph. He was spectacularly thrown from the seat of his Fireblade at Mondello - "the rear end stepped out of line when I was not expecting it and I was thrown out of the seat, but landed back on it - then it happened again, but I couldn't hang on," he said.
"It was absolutely brilliant," said spectator Stephen Peters. "I thought Rutter's accident was totally unfortunate though - I'm a big fan of his."
Organiser Fergus Brennan was delighted with the crowd this year. "It's the second year the BSB came to Mondello and it ran really smoothly," he said. "The riders and teams were very happy with the track and organisation and we're already starting to prepare for next year."