William Dunlop takes Armoy clean sweep on opening night

William Dunlop has taken a clean sweep of pole positions and wins on the opening night of this year’s Armoy Race of Legends, with a win in the Supersport 600 race from pole position as well as taking the number one starting spot for Saturday’s Superbike race.

Dunlop took pole in the Supersport class under glorious sunshine from Tyco teammate Guy Martin, albeit with Dunlop instead on the CD Racing Yamaha, while Martin campaigned the Suzuki GSX-R600 that Alastair Seeley took to North West 200 success. He finished almost 2mph faster than the Englishman, with Dean Harrison third on the Mar-Train Yamaha.

In the Superbike class, Dunlop was able to repeat his success, lapping at an average of 104.479mph to Martin’s 103.419. Derek Shiels was an impressive third, ahead of Keith Amor on his return from TT injury, Supertwins pole man Ryan Farquhar, and the second of the Dunlop brothers Michael.

With the hard work then done, Dunlop was able to get a blinding start in the opening race of the two-day meeting, powering away and never looking back as Martin and Harrison traded second place, with the Suzuki rider eventually getting the edge over his Yamaha rival.

Saturday sees a fully packed schedule of races at the Antrim circuit, with roads closing at 10am for the 11 race schedule.