THOUGH he sometimes had to play second fiddle, particularly to Peter Hickman but also to Bruce Anstey, Dean Harrison still had an Ulster Grand Prix to remember.

The Bradford man not only won the Around A Pound Superbike race that concluded the meeting at the 7.4-mile Dundrod circuit – his first Ulster Grand Prix victory – but he also became the world's fastest road racer in the MMB Surfacing Superbike race.

Harrison didn't win it, but his new lap record of 134.614mph did help him climb from fifth to third, and he was also on the podium with second place in the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Superstock race.

The Silicone Engineering Kawasaki ace rider, who beat the record of 134.089mph set by Bingley's Ian Hutchinson last year, said: “We are leaving with the lap record and we have won the last race, which is the one everyone remembers, so I’m over the moon with that.

“I really wanted that, we have been second and third all week. I did want to win and I knew we had the pace to run at the front after we broke the lap record on the race before.

"We didn’t quite break it but I’m over the moon with that. Massive thanks to all the team, the lads, it’s been a good week and roll on next time."

Harrison added: “I wouldn’t have minded watching that (his Superbike victory) on TV.

"It was getting a bit sketchy out there. (Winning) is what we all come to do.

"If it hadn’t been for all these lads here all working flat out all week, changing stuff and the last-minute dash before I went out to race, I wouldn’t be here now.

"There was definitely some rubbing going on out there – some elbow bashing and fairings and all sorts – but we are all back in the winner’s enclosure in one piece.”

With Hickman and Anstey both out of the second race, Harrison ended up on top of a close- fought battle with Tyco BMW’s Dan Kneen and the Padgetts Honda of Conor Cummins, with only three-tenths of a second separating them.

It was an intense battle with Kneen, but that only occurred after pole-sitter Hickman, who took the early lead, was forced to retire at Leathemstown in a cloud of smoke after an engine failure as the second lap got underway.

With race one winner Anstey soon out too, retiring to the pits, the battle at the front turned into a dogfight between Harrison, Kneen and Cummins.

The trio traded the lead multiple times, but it looked like Kneen would be the one to take the chequered flag first.

Harrison re-took the lead from Kneen at the start of the final lap, but a gutsy move by Kneen put victory in his sights once again.

However, Harrison was having none of it and slipped up the inside of the BMW at the hairpin, resulting in contact between the pair, before he charged to the line, winning by 0.106sec after another superb Dundrod race.

Harrison added: “Dan came by me just before Wheeler’s and we were nearly off the track, so when we went into the hairpin, I had to have a go.

“He was in the middle of the track and came across on me a bit so it was a bit tight and we ran a bit wide but got the job done. It was scary stuff at times."

Hickman was the man of the meeting, getting pole position in the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport and opening his account in the first race – the Dundrod 150 Superbike race, although Harrison was only 4.674sec behind in second.

Then Hickman won the Supersport race ahead of Anstey and Lee Johnston, with Harrison fourth.

Hickman and Anstey once again led the charge in the Superbike race, a last-lap overtaking move giving Anstey the win, with Harrison, and his new lap record, in third.