Race chief William Munnis wants Armoy to be 'the ultimate Irish road race'
Armoy Clerk of the Course William Munnis says he is ‘proud’ of the passion and unity within the Armoy Club after a slickly run ‘Race of Legends’ meeting concluded on a high on Saturday.
England’s Davey Todd won the blue riband race and recorded the first 109mph lap around the undulating three-mile course in the shadow of Knocklayde Mountain in Co Antrim in a fitting finale.
A packed 12-race programme was concluded by 3:20pm as Armoy brought the curtain down on a depleted Irish road racing season, with the Cookstown 100 and North West 200 the only other races on the 2024 calendar.
All road races in the Republic of Ireland were called off for the second successive season because of prohibitive insurance costs, while the Tandragee 100 in Co Armagh – last held in 2022 – was also cancelled.
Against a backdrop of uncertainty over the future of the sport, Armoy continues to buck the trend as a thriving event that seemingly goes from strength to strength each year, which Munnis says is down to commitment of club members.
“One of the things I’m proud of is that the club is run all by our own officials – they’re all club members and we have no outside involvement in any of the main official positions,” said Munnis, who also serves as club chairman.
“That’s a good, strong basis for a club and since I took on Clerk of the Course last year, I can honestly say I’ve never had a cross word with anybody.
“The people involved in our club are full of enthusiasm and we can boast over 600 paying members and we regularly have around 60 to 70 people attend our meetings every first Wednesday in the month.
“That’s the kind of support we need at the present time in road racing.
“We try to go about it in a professional manner and if you can run a good, slick event then it gets recognised, as you can see with the press coverage we’ve had over the last few days,” he added.
“I just want to say a big thanks to all the competitors who come because that’s what makes it.
“Everybody went home happy and once the racing was over, people hung about and socialised and the feedback on Sunday from everyone was very positive.
“My aim is to make Armoy the ultimate Irish road race and we are a grassroots national road race, but I think Armoy has risen above that.”
Since its inaugural year in 2009, Armoy – set up to honour the legacy of the legendary Armoy Armada of Joey Dunlop, Mervyn Robinson, Frank Kennedy and Jim Dunlop – has attracted many of the biggest names in road racing.
This year’s line-up included Senior TT winner Todd plus fellow leading TT riders Jamie Coward and Conor Cummins, plus Irish road racing stars including Mike Browne, Paul Jordan, Dominic Herbertson and Michael Sweeney.
However, Munnis says the club’s appreciation of every competitor who applies to race at Armoy is central to the appeal of the event.
“All the competitors are passionate about the event as well and there was one competitor who came onto the line for qualifying for the Junior Support race – an unknown rider – but his bike stopped on the line and we had to push him over to the side,” he said.
“He took his helmet off and he was in tears and said his dream all year was to come and ride at Armoy but then this had happened to him. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him not to worry, we’d get him out, and we did.
“But that’s just one example of how much it means to riders from the very best at the top right down through the field.
“It’s down to the hard work and dedication of the club and we’re reaching out to all the riders; the door is open for the top riders and grassroots riders alike to come and race at Armoy. We concentrate on that and if we bring the riders, the crowd will follow,” Munnis added.
“We had a good, clean run and went through 21 sessions on Friday plus two races, and then we ran another 12 races on Saturday and were finished by 3:20pm.”
The addition of free practice for Supersport and Superbike riders for the first time this year proved successful and is something the club hopes to explore further in 2025, potentially expanding into a three-day meeting (Thursday to Saturday).
Munnis said: “It worked really well and if we could stretch into a Thursday it would be even better, but I can’t guarantee anything although we will look into it for next year and it is an option.”