By The opening day of the 2016 SGS International Armoy Road Races, culminated today with a classic supersport race.
With the original start of the race red flagged, the re start would see a reduced race distance of five laps.
Piloting his own teams YZF R6 Yamaha, William Dunlop by mid distance in the race, moved to the front. From here despite coming under increased pressure from his brother Michael Dunlop, he held onto to secure his sixth supersport success of his 2016 roads campaign.
The race winning margin was a mere 0.007 of a second! a truly great battle between the Dunlop brothers.
Derek Sheils on the Cookstown BE Racing CBR 600 Honda, who was the early race leader, finalised the top three finishers.
Dan Kneen, Mar Train Racing YZF R6 Yamaha, finished in fourth place as Bob Wylie Racing’s Christian Elkin impressed in finishing a more than creditable fifth.
Finalising the top six finishers was two time Junior Manx Grand Prix winner Michael Sweeney.
Michal Dokoupil, competing at Armoy under the Wilson Craig Racing banner, finished seventh in front of James Cowton on his recently acquired new CBR 600 Honda mount.
Rising roads star Adam McLean produced one of the performances of the race, as he secured ninth place, Andy Farrell who holds the number one plate for the Junior and Senior Manx GP races, completed the top ten finishers.
Derek McGee quickest in qualifying, was a non starter, on the Noel Doyne backed YZF R6 Yamaha. Paul Jordan, B&W Racing CBR 600 Honda was another high profile retirement.
Armoy – Supersport Race 1 Results:
1 William Dunlop
2 Michael Dunlop
3 Derek Sheils
4 Dan Kneen
5 Christian Elkin
6 Michael Sweeney
7 Michal Dokoupil
8 James Cowton
9 Adam McLean
10 Andy Farrell
Words by Stevie Rial
