Skerries 100: Michael Dunlop wins Open Superbike race on BMW for ninth victory as Junior Support race red-flagged

Michael Dunlop won the Open Superbike race at the Country Crest Skerries 100 on Sunday for his ninth victory at the Co Dublin road race.

Dunlop was a late entry for the event, where he last raced in 2018.

placeholder image — Michael Dunlop won the Open Superbike race at the tragedy-hit Skerries 100 in Co Dublin for his ninth victory at the event on Sunday. The meeting was abandoned after a competitor was killed following a crash in the Junior Support race. (Photo by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press)

The Junior Support race, the second event on the programme, has been red-flagged.

Dunlop claimed pole on his MD Racing BMW for the Open race but it was home hero Michael Sweeney who led on the first lap on his MJR BMW.

Dunlop was 0.438s behind, with Tramore’s Brian McCormack in third.

On lap two, Dunlop made his move for the lead and held a slight advantage of 0.414s over Sweeney, with the leading duo pulling away from McCormack in third on his Roadhouse Macau BMW. Manx rider Marcus Simpson was in fourth ahead of Ryan Whitehall.

Dunlop began to up the ante around the 2.92-mile course and had opened a gap of 1.326s over Sweeney at the halfway point of the six-lap race.

He extended his lead to 3.1s after four laps, with Sweeney safe in second ahead of McCormack, Simpson (Honda) and Whitehall (Suzuki).

Dunlop was ahead by 5.7s after the penultimate lap and went on to close out the win by 7.257s over Sweeney.

McCormack finished 14.424s down on race winner Dunlop as he secured the final rostrum spot, four seconds ahead of Simpson.

Whitehall claimed fifth with James Chawke, Andy Farrell and Kevin Keyes the top eight.

The Skerries 100 is taking place for the first time since 2022, with no road racing in the Republic of Ireland running over the last four years because of high insurance costs.