Paul Jordan dominates Cookstown 100 Supersport race with three successive lap records
Paul Jordan won the Supersport A race at the 2026 Cookstown 100 on Saturday 25 April, beating the field by 10.494 seconds and setting an improving series of lap records around the short Orritor circuit. The Magherafelt rider, representing Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2, was already 0.779 seconds ahead of Darryl Tweed at the end of the first lap. Across the following laps he extended the advantage, breaking the Supersport class record three times in succession. His fastest lap eventually reached 1 minute 23.927 seconds, an impressive progression during a single race.
The lap-time progression is the story
Jordan's lap-three time was 1:24.238, followed by 1:24.092 on lap four and 1:23.927 on lap five. All three improved the existing Supersport record according to contemporary race reporting. This was not simply a rider taking the lead and remaining there: he found measurable additional performance as the race went on. The three times show successive gains of 0.146 and 0.165 seconds, relatively small in isolation but important when setting a class record over a circuit only about 2.1 miles long.
He had already shown enough speed before the race to be considered a leading contender. At the end of the opening lap Tweed was still within a second, so Jordan had to make the difference rather than inherit a huge advantage. His later series of record laps did exactly that. The final 10.494-second winning margin indicates the pace difference had developed into a decisive lead. Any account claiming the event was settled in a single first-corner pass would therefore miss the evidence in the lap times.
A busy Cookstown programme
The Cookstown 100 marked the start of the Northern Ireland road-racing season in 2026, using the Orritor circuit near Cookstown in County Tyrone. Friday's practice and three evening races were followed by a full Saturday schedule in favourable weather. The programme featured several classes, including Superbikes, Supertwins, Moto3, lightweight motorcycles and support races. Distinguishing Jordan's Supersport A race from the other categories is essential because a class lap record cannot be compared directly with an outright Superbike lap record without noting the different machinery.
Michael Dunlop was the headline performer across the meeting, taking four victories and setting an outright circuit lap record in the feature race. That does not diminish Jordan's Supersport performance. In a different contest on a different type of machine, he controlled the opposition and repeatedly lowered the class benchmark. Both results can be true, and both are individually reportable as long as they are not combined into a false claim that Jordan set the fastest lap ever recorded by any bike at Cookstown.
A useful comparison with later events
Jordan went on to feature prominently at the May North West 200, where he set the fastest lap of the opening Sportbike race at 112.231mph despite finishing fourth after an overshoot at University Corner. He was runner-up to Jeremy McWilliams in the second Sportbike contest. At the Isle of Man TT in June he took third in the Sportbike race after a close fight with Mike Browne for second. Those later results show that the Cookstown performance formed part of a competitive spring rather than being an isolated fast afternoon.
