Davey Todd hails Michael Dunlop and Ryan Farquhar after adding his name to 'Race of Legends' trophy at Armoy

The Milenco by Padgett’s Honda rider was in sensational form at the County Antrim event, where Todd won both Supersport and Superbike races and smashed the absolute lap record, setting a new benchmark of 108.534mph.

The 26-year-old is the first English rider to win the ‘Race of Legends’ trophy, which was hoisted aloft for the first time by Dungannon man Farquhar after the inaugural staging of the blue riband race in 2010.

Ballymoney rider Dunlop – who pulled out of his home race on Friday – won the silverware a record nine times in a row between 2011 and 2021 [race cancelled in 2018 due to torrential rain and in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 restrictions].

Todd told the News Letter: “It’s so cool and those other two names on the trophy are absolute legends of the sport, and absolute legends on the Irish roads. To put my name up there almost feels wrong! I don’t consider myself to be in the same league as those boys, so it’s a bit surreal.

“The reception from the fans after every race was awesome, and it’s awesome to see how well Armoy is doing as a national road race – it feels like an international, and it’s becoming a really big race,” added the Saltburn man.

“With the list of riders out there and to see so many spectators out there after an iffy start to the day with the weather, was so cool.

“It was packed out and all the people were waving their programmes on the cool down lap, so that was quite special and it gave me an awesome feeling to see everybody out there.

“I just hope people weren’t too disappointed by not having all the riders there they wanted, and hopefully we put on a good show for them anyway.

“If I can come back next year, then I’ll definitely be there.”