Armoy Road Races: Davey Todd sets blistering new 108mph lap record with sensational 'Race of Legends' victory

The Milenco by Padgett’s Honda rider led all the way and blitzed the lap record twice, establishing a new benchmark of 108.534mph as he set the first 108mph laps of the three-mile Armoy course.

Todd’s new record lap was 1.5s quicker than Michael Dunlop’s old outright lap record of 106.945mph, which he set on the SYNETIQ BMW M1000RR Superbike last year.

After three laps in the blue riband race, Todd was over nine seconds ahead of Derek Sheils on the Roadhouse Macau BMW.

He was able to roll off the throttle on the final laps, eventually clinching a Superbike double by 8.863s.

The 26-year-old is only the second rider to win the blue riband race, with Ryan Farquhar victorious in 2010 before Dunlop’s unbeaten run of nine wins in a row.

Skerries man Michael Sweeney passed Sheils for the runner-up spot on his MJR BMW, while Phil Crowe came home in fourth on his BMW ahead of Mike Browne (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki).

Yorkshire’s Jamie Coward finalised the top six on the KTS Racing/Steadplan Yamaha.

Coward earlier won the inaugural Classic Superbike race on his Kawasaki from Crowe.

However, he had to dig deep in a breath-taking Supertwin race, which developed into a three-way battle with Sweeney and Paul Jordan.

On a breathless final lap, Coward out-dragged Sweeney to the line with Jordan right in their wheel tracks. The trio were covered by 0.023s at the finish in the closest race of the day.