Mike Browne joins line-up for Around-A-Pound Tandragee 100 with Northern Ireland team BPE Russell Racing
Mike Browne has been confirmed for this weekend’s Around-A-Pound Tandragee 100 in Co Armagh after making a winning return to the event last summer.
Browne clinched a double in the Supersport races at the 5.3-mile course for Northern Ireland team BPE by Russell Racing on a Yamaha R6.
The famous Irish road race returned to the calendar for the first time since 2022, following the completion of vital resurfacing work.
Browne will be the man to beat in the Supersport races and will also have his sights set on Superbike glory on his MB Racing/Russell Racing Honda.
The Cork man only rode a Supersport machine at the event in 2025 before adding the Fireblade to his stable of machinery ahead of the Southern 100.
Browne is coming off the back of a successful fortnight at the Isle of Man TT, where he finished as the runner-up in the Sportbike race on the Melbray/Laycock Racing Paton and claimed fourth in the second Supersport race.
Following his Supersport double at Tandragee last year, when he beat Michael Sweeney and Michael Dunlop respectively, Browne said: “It was very satisfying. I got out there in front with a clear road and there’s no better track to be out there on your own, so I was happy with that.
“I knew I had the pace to win, so I just watched my board and the boys were keeping an eye obviously on Michael [Dunlop – who started from the second group on his Ducati]. It was nice to get a win on a proper 600 and I was delighted for the team.”
The line-up at Tandragee includes Sweeney, who gave Dunlop a run for his money in the Superbike races last year.
Sweeney broke the late Dan Kneen’s 2018 lap record on his way to second place in the Open Superbike race, lapping at 109.796mph.
He later upped his pace to 110.99mph in the feature Superbike race, finishing second behind Dunlop, who established a new outright lap record at 111.584mph.
“The course just has everything in it: jumps, bumps, ‘bomb hole’ – everything,” said Sweeney. “People say it’s like a small TT and I think it is as well to be fair, it has everything.
“For a newcomer coming here, they need to do their homework because there’s a lot of corners, a lot of blind corners.”
Manxman Conor Cummins raced at Tandragee last year for the first time in 18 years and will be back for more on his BMW and Suzuki machines.
Club member Shaun Anderson is another leading contender on the entry list and edged out Cummins in the Tandragee 100 Superbike race to claim the final rostrum spot in 2025.
Practice commences on Friday with the main race programme on Saturday.