Browne wins Supersport at Tandragee as Dunlop on pole

Mike Browne on board his BPE by Russell Racing Yamaha at the Tandragee road races

Mike Browne won the opening Supersport event at the Tandragee 100 road races on Friday evening while Michael Dunlop set the pole position time for Saturday's two Open races at the county Armagh circuit.

Riding his BPE by Russell Racing Yamaha, Browne led throughout the four-lap race and finished half a second ahead of Michael Sweeney, who was also Yamaha-mounted.

Dunlop had encountered difficulties in qualifying so started from 17th on the grid as part of the second group but ended up in third spot on corrected time after setting the fastest lap of the race at 107.445mph on his Milwaukee V2 Ducati on his final circuit.

The Ballymoney rider finished 2.7 seconds adrift of Skerries man Sweeney.

Manxman Conor Cummins, Darryl Tweed and Shaun Anderson rounded out the top six in the Supersports, who will have another outing on Saturday.

Earlier, record 33-time Isle of Man TT winner Dunlop lapped the 5.3-mile course at an average speed of 107.97mph on his MD Racing BMW Superstock machine to register the quickest ever qualifying lap at the event in the Open class.

That left the Ballymoney rider with 2.78 seconds to spare over nearest challenger Sweeney, who posted a 106.308 on his MJ Racing BMW.

The top six qualifying leaderboard for the Open class was completed by Browne (105.866), Cummins (105.035), Anderson (105.021) and Marcus Simpson (102.846).

Michael Dunlop in action on his MD Racing BMW during practice at Tandragee 100

Cork man Browne recorded the quickest lap in Supersport qualifying, 2.8 seconds ahead of Sweeney, with that order subsequently being replicated in the race.

Tweed from Ballymoney was third, Anderson fourth and Cummins fifth on his Ducati.

Manxman Cummins, 39, is making his first appearance at the event since his only previous visit back in 2007 and is riding for the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team.

Dunlop was an early retirement back to the paddock in Supersport qualifying but later completed a lap on the machine at the back of the group in the Senior Support session.

The 36-year-old, who picked up a treble at this year's North West 200 and a four-timer at the recent TT Races, is aiming to add to his 11 previous Tandragee race wins as he competes at the meeting for the first time since 2013, when he sealed a Superbike double.

Sweeney topped the timesheets in the Supertwins qualifying, which was initially red-flagged.

The Republic of Ireland rider circulated at 102.344mph on his Aprilia 660, followed by Tweed (100.228), Barry Furber (99.886), Joe Yeardsley (99.428) and Simpson (99.387).

Anderson headed the Classic Superbike qualifying and Tweed the Lightweight category.

The Tandragee 100 is taking place for the first time since 2022 after essential resurfacing work on a section of the circuit was completed, with this the 61st running of the races.

An 11-race programme is scheduled for Saturday, with roads closing at 09:30 BST and the first action on track at 10:00.