Ryan Farquhar hailed Armoy newcomer Richard Cooper’s winning debut at the Irish national road race in Co Antrim after the duo teamed up for the Supertwin races.

Farquhar, Irish national road racing’s most successful ever rider, said Cooper’s victory in the second Supertwin race over Mike Browne (Melbray/Laycock Racing Paton) and Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing by Prosper2 Aprilia) underscored the Nottingham rider’s pedigree.

Cooper has won five Supertwin races at the North West 200 on Kawasaki machinery prepared by Dungannon man Farquhar and has now added an Irish national success to his glittering CV, which includes four British titles.

A former two-time National Superstock 1000 champion, Cooper also finished on the rostrum in third in Saturday’s Supersport race on a Yamaha R6 for the Russell Racing team, with team-mate Mike Browne taking the win over Jordan (Jackson Racing by Prosper2 Ducati).

placeholder image — Richard Cooper celebrates his first Irish national road race victory in the Supertwin event at Armoy with KMR Kawasaki's Ryan Farquhar and his team. (Photo by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press)

“I’ve worked flat-out and we built a new engine for the Sunflower last year and then Richard wasn’t able to do it, and I just had it sitting on the shelf,” Farquhar said.

“I’d said to him a couple of times if he took a notion of doing a national road race to give me a shout and I said the same thing to Derek McGee.

“Derek missed out by three days because Richard messaged me or rang on the Friday to see if he could do Armoy and I said yes, and then Derek rang me a few days after it, but there’s only so much you can do.

“We’re committed to running Liam Chawke as well to get a bit of preparation for the Manx, but fair play to Richard; to come here as a newcomer just shows the talent that he has that he can mix it with these lads who are very experienced and have very good bikes.”