Following nothing short of a herculean, incredible performance, Tyco BMW’s Michael Dunlop powered to Open Championship race success at the Bayview Hotel Armoy Road Races.
Third at the end of the opening lap of the seven lap encounter, Dunlop in spite of carrying pelvis, wrist, multiple injuries found the extra gear needed to jump up into the race lead on lap two.
From here the 19 times TT winner, controlled things out front, ultimately going onto emerge victorious by 4.465 seconds over nearest challenger, early race leader BE Racing In Conjunction with Richardson Kelly Racing’s Derek Sheils.
Photo by Rod Neill
You hear the words at times super human qualities echoed in relation to all sports, well the grit, determination shown today by International roads event great Dunlop was truly super, super, super human.
Concluding the Open Championship race podium finishers behind Dunlop and Sheils was Martin Jones Racing’s Michael Sweeney, whilst fourth place went to 2019 Armoy hat-trick hero Derek McGee.
Thomas Maxwell placed an impressive fifth, Davies Motorsport’s Dominic Herbertson was a more than respectable sixth as Logan Racing’s Neil Kernohan, event returnee Shaun Anderson, Marc Ironside and lead Armoy newcomer Sam West finalised the first ten finishers.
Additional solid results were gained by the likes of Preston’s Darren Cooper (11th), Team DHR’s Gareth Keys (12th), Graham Kennedy (15th) and Steadplan Primus Racing’s Ben Rea (18th).
Armoy: Open Championship race result, is as follows:
1 Michael Dunlop
2 Derek Sheils
3 Michael Sweeney
4 Derek McGee
5 Thomas Maxwell
6 Dominic Herbertson
7 Neil Kernohan
8 Shaun Anderson
9 Marc Ironside
10 Sam West
11 Darren Cooper
12 Gareth Keys
13 Andy Farrell
14 Tom Weeden
15 Graham Kennedy
16 Davy Morgan
17 Paul Gartland
18 Ben Rea
19 Stephen McKnight
20 Kris Duncan
21 Paul Cranston
22 Alan Connor
23 Donald MacFadyen
24 Dennis Booth
Words by Stevie Rial