Mike Browne puts on a superb performance in difficult conditions to take victory in the Open race by 8.8 seconds from Michael Sweeney, with Paul Jordan a further 7.5 seconds in arrears on his 600cc Honda to take third.

Jamie Coward, Neil Kernohan and Conor Cummins round out the top six.

The track was a mixture of very damp patches and other areas which were almost completely dry so credit to Browne for making light of the dicey conditions on the Honda Fireblade which he only recently acquired and first rode at the recent Southern 100 on the Isle of Man.

Browne now has a hat-trick of wins at this year's event and set the fastest lap of the race at 101.012mph on his fifth lap.

Mike Browne is still at the head of affairs but Sweeney and Jordan, who is out on a 600cc Honda rather than his 1000cc bike, are still giving hot pursuit.

Franco Bourne, Jamie Coward and Kevin Keyes are next in the order.

Michael Sweeney led Mike Browne, Erno Kostamo and Paul Jordan after lap one but after the secind circuit it was Browne who assumed the position at the front from Sweeney. Jordan and Finnish newcomer Kostamo.

and blast off!

These mighty 1000cc machines roar off the line for what has all the makings of a thrilling seven-lapper!

Paul Jordan was the pacesetter in qualifying and starts on pole but Mike Browne, Conor Cummins, Michael Sweeney, Jamie Coward and Phil Crowe will all fancy their chances of having a say in this one.

The race has been reduced to six laps from seven and the riders are making their final adjustments.

The riders are forming up on the grid for their sighting lap so it looks like it will soon be all systems go for the highly anticipated Open race.

Hopefully it will prove to be worth waiting for.

These are the fastest machines we will see today but the wet course conditions means they won't be able to use anything like full power.

More rain has fallen on the Armoy course and riders are still debating which tyres to choose for this delayed Open race.

The track is obviously much wetter than it was 10 or 15 minutes ago...there are some ominous grey skies overhead too, so let's hope more showers don't come our way.

Race organisers, including clerk-of-the-course William Munnis, have been inspecting the damp patch on the circuit and negotiations with the riders have been continuing.

A further 10-minute delay has been announced and then the riders will go on another lap to inspect the conditions.

"Rider safety comes first", Munnis tells BBC Sport NI's Stephen Watson.

After the sighting lap, Skerries rider Michael Sweeney reports that the vast majority of the circuit is dry bar one section nearing the end of the lap, which is soaking wet.

The MJR Racing BMW rider is assessing his tyre choice, as are the other riders on the grid.

Tyre selection look set to be a major factor in this race.

The rain has passed and it's all blue skies again at Armoy and the track is drying we are happy to report.

The riders and their machines are assembling in the paddock ready to head out for their sighting lap before the Open race.

If you are just catching up with events so far at the Armoy races we can tell you that Mike Browne edged out Paul Jordan in a fast and furious Superpsort race to complete a double at the meeting in that category.

Chris Meyer won the Moto3 race, Lee Osprey the Supersport 300, Nigel Moore the Junior Classic, Barry Davidson the Lightweight Supersport and Kevin Lavery the Junior Support.

Here's the official top 10 leaderboard from the Junior Classic event which concluded a short time ago.

Image source, BBC Sport

The race organisers have announced a short 15-minute delay to proceedings after that heavy rain shower at Armoy.

Live video stream coverage will resume as soon as there is more action to report.

Image source, BBC Sport

Just as the big bikes prepare to emerge from the paddock for the Open race, the rain has started pouring down at Armoy and the umbrellas are up.

There's a pretty stiff wind now too for the competitors to contend with.

Here's a reminder of the top six qualifying leaderboard from Friday which will dictate grid positions in both 'big bike' races today.

1 Paul Jordan (Honda) 106.324mph

2 Mike Browne (Honda) 106.087

3 Conor Cummins (BMW) 105.249

4 Michael Sweeney (BMW) 104.676

5 Jamie Coward (BMW) 104.311

6 Phil Crowe (BMW) 103.843

The Open race is next and it promises to be a cracker with a stellar list of top riders on the grid.

Last year's race saw Davey Todd win from Phil Crowe and Jamie Coward in a 1-2-3 clean sweep for English riders.

Remarkably, only four riders have won the Open event in the history of the meeting - Ryan Farquhar in 2009 and 2010, Michael Dunlop on eight occasions, Guy Martin in 2024 and 2015 and Davey Todd in 2022 and 2024.

With none of that quartet competing this weekend there will be a new winner of the 1000cc class this time.

Nigel Moore is a runaway winner of the Junior Classic, having 42.5 seconds to spare over runner-up Dan Sayle, with Keith Shannon third.

It was a first Armoy win for Moore and he picked up a new lap record to boot...

The Junior Classics are away for their seven-lap race.,,the damp patches around the course from some rain early morning are now disappearing.

And here's a reminder of how they finished in the earlier Lightweight Supersport.

The top 10 finished like this...

Image source, BBC Sport

The track action continues apace as the Junior Classic race is up next....