Armoy road races: Michael Dunlop secures five-timer for second time at county Antrim circuit

Michael Dunlop secured five wins at the Armoy road races for the second time in his career as he reclaimed the feature 'Race of Legends' crown on Saturday.

The 34-year-old also won five races at the 2021 meeting.

Riding a Honda, Dunlop won the main race comprehensively by 16.9 seconds from Mike Browne, having earlier also won the Open race on his 1000cc bike.

The Ballymoney rider won both Supersport races and the Supertwins to take his total Armoy tally to 29 wins.

Dunlop had won the 'Race of Legends' event nine times in succession between 2011 and 2021 but did not race at the event 12 months ago following a dispute with the organisers, Davey Todd collecting four successes on that occasion.

The 25-times TT winner was in total command from the start of this year's six-lap race held in wet conditions, pulling out a lead of 6.45 seconds after lap one and extending that to 11.4 seconds after his second circuit of the three-mile course.

His win took his tally of Superbike successes at Armoy to 18 and number of triumphs in the feature race to 10.

By the finish, Browne was 10 seconds ahead of third-placed man Derek Sheils.

Dunlop edges Open race win

Todd led off the line in the Open race but Dunlop hit the front on lap one and ended with a 0.7 seconds advantage over the Yorkshireman at the chequered flag.

Milenco by Padgett's Honda pilot Todd stayed in close attendance of the leader with a lap at 108.043mph but was unable to overhaul the Ballymoney rider.

Sheils completed the rostrum in third and set the fastest lap of the race at 108.231mph, just shy of Todd's course record benchmark of 108.534 set 12 months ago.

Browne, Dean Harrison and Paul Jordan completed the top six leaderboard.

Dunlop won Friday's Supersport opener in lap record-breaking fashion and made it a double in the middleweight class by taking a dominant victory in Saturday's event which was re-started twice and eventually held over five laps.

The race was initially halted because of an incident at Acheson's Leap on the opening lap and the re-run red-flagged as rain fell around the circuit.

MD Racing 600cc Yamaha-mounted Dunlop enjoyed an advantage of 5.7 seconds over Browne by the finish, with Todd a further 1.5 seconds in arrears in third.

They were followed across the line by McLean, Harrison and Jordan.

Michael Dunlop was a convincing winner of the second Supersport race

The Supertwins class was another event that was subject to two red-flag stoppages but again it was Dunlop who emerged victorious on a Kawasaki normally ridden by Jamie Coward, who missed the meeting through injuries sustained in a road traffic accident while riding his bicycle earlier in the week.

On this occasion, the local favourite had 4.6 seconds to spare over second-place finisher McLean, with Jordan three seconds further adrift when the race was brought to a premature end when the leaders had completed four laps.

Cork man Browne rode his Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Honda to victory in the Moto3/125cc class, establishing a new lap record at 90.755mph as he did so.

Tobermore rider McLean was 22 seconds behind in second on Roy Hanna's 125cc Honda, with Nigel Moore in third spot.

David Bell was a comfortable winner of the Classic Superbike race, with Andy Hornby, Barry Davidson and Richard Ford classic race winners and Anthony McCarroll grabbing a double in the Senior and Junior Support classes.