Armoy Road Races: Richard Cooper smashes Supertwin lap record for victory on Irish national road racing debut
Richard Cooper smashed the Supertwin lap record on his way to a maiden victory at the Bayview Hotel Armoy Road Races on Saturday in his first appearance at the Co Antrim meeting.
Cooper claimed a podium in the Supertwin opener on Friday, finishing third behind Mike Browne and Paul Jordan in his maiden race at the three-mile course on largely dry roads after earlier light rain.
The Nottingham rider teamed up with Ryan Farquhar to ride the KMR Kawasaki under the Jack Reid Car Sales banner and lived up to his lofty reputation, with the seven-time North West 200 winner and four-time British champion earning a deserved victory.
Cooper led over the line on each of the seven laps and raised the lap record to 101.192mph on his final lap to beat Browne (Melbray/Laycock Racing Paton) and Jordan (Jackson Racing Aprilia).
Magherafelt man Jordan held second position for much of the race but was overhauled by Browne in the closing stages.
Cooper’s winning margin was 1.050s over Browne, who pipped Jordan to the runner-up spot by only seven hundredths of a second.
Dominic Herbertson was around 21 seconds behind in fourth on the KTS Racing Triumph, two seconds up on Ballymena’s Neil Kernohan (Kernohan Racing Aprilia).
Dean McMaster completed the top six on the Air NI Racing Kawasaki ahead of Sean Brolly and Johnny Stewart, who were both riding Aprilia machines.
Leading contenders Michael Sweeney and Manx rider Joe Yeardsley were among the non-starters.