Tandragee 100: Michael Dunlop heaps praise on Michael Sweeney after big bike battles - 'he's riding fantastically well'

​The Co Armagh meeting returned to the calendar for the first time since 2022 and it didn’t disappoint, with the large crowds around the 5.3-mile course enjoying some superb racing.

Dunlop was riding at Tandragee for the first time since 2013 but the 33-time Isle of Man TT winner went into the event as the favourite on his MD Racing BMW and Milwaukee Ducati Panigale machines.

On his last appearance 12 years ago, he won both Superbike races by a huge margin of 26 seconds, but the 36-year-old had to work much harder at the weekend to chalk up his 12th and 13th wins at the event with another big-bike double.

Dunlop held off Skerries man Sweeney to win the Open Superbike race by 0.411s, with his Irish rival breaking Dan Kneen’s 2018 outright lap record (109.609mph) with a new absolute course record of 109.796mph (2m 55.212s).

Dunlop was also under the old lap record with a speed of 109.755mph, a few hundredths of a second off Sweeney’s new best.

In the headline Tandragee 100 finale, Dunlop and Sweeney were again locked in battle on the opening laps, with Dunlop raising the bar to 110.497mph on lap two.

However, Sweeney responded with another lap record of 110.997mph as he chased after the Ulsterman on a humid day in the Orchard County.

There was little between them until Dunlop opened a gap of 1.362s after the fourth lap before he then made a decisive break, shattering the lap record with a blistering 111.584mph effort on the penultimate lap of six to lead Sweeney by almost five seconds.

Dunlop increased his margin by a further three seconds on the final lap to win by eight seconds from the impressive Sweeney, with Banbridge man Shaun Anderson sealing third on the Team Classic Suzuki, 17 seconds down on the winner.

Anderson prevailed in a battle with Manxman Conor Cummins (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing BMW), who ran on at Bell’s crossroads on the last lap, eventually crossing the line in fourth.

It was a fitting end to the 61st running of the Tandragee 100 and Dunlop was full of praise for Sweeney afterwards.

“Michael rides national road racing fantastically well, there’s no doubt about that,” Dunlop said.

“He’s the boy to beat every weekend, he’s at it all the time and he’s a good, steady rider – that’s great – and he does a great job.

“My main thing [in the final race] was to do a lap, do another lap and then ‘Micko’ was on the pace, so I said, ‘right, time to up it again’, and that’s when I took a couple of seconds out of him on that lap.

“But me and Michael kept upping the pace and at the end of the day, I’ve got the Southern coming up and you have to make sure [to avoid any slip-ups].

“So I just kept upping the pace to see where ‘Micko’ was able to come and once I got that gap I calmed down again.”

It was Dunlop’s second national road racing outing this year after he began the season at the Cookstown 100 in April, winning the Superbike and Supersport races.

Reflecting on his performance on Saturday, he added: “Good job, won both and broke the 600 lap record, broke the Superbike lap record, so I can’t complain.

“It’s nice [to be back at Tandragee] and it’s nice that when they said I was coming, a lot of people came out to watch it.

“It’s good – it’s nice to be back somewhere where you feel welcome.”

The Isle of Man’s Marcus Simpson (WH Racing powered by Dynobike Honda) and Offaly’s Kevin Keyes (Daracore Yamaha) rounded out the top six.

Dunlop was pushed all the way in the earlier Open race.

He made a less than ideal getaway from pole and it was Sweeney who led the way after the first lap from Mike Browne (BPE by Russell Racing Yamaha 600), Dunlop and Anderson.

Dunlop moved into second place on lap two, 0.4s behind Sweeney.

He then hit the front, but Dunlop was unable to shake off the determined Irishman, who set the fastest lap of the race at 110.796mph in what was a new absolute course record.

It was Dunlop, though, who came out on top as he won his first race at Tandragee since 2013 by a narrow margin of four-tenths-of-second from Sweeney.

Ramsey man Cummins – riding at the event for the first time since making his debut in 2007 – pipped Browne for the last podium spot on the final lap.

"I got past on the back straight,” Cummins said.

"I sort of sat in and I just used the power of the bike really and then just held station all the way. I’m loving it, it’s really good and it’s great to see so many people around the track – Irish road racing is alive and kicking, isn’t it?”

Anderson was also involved in the battle for third but slipped back after going wide at Castle corner and had to settle for sixth behind Simpson.

Ryan Whitehall (WR Racing Yamaha) and Neil Kernohan (Kernohan Racing Yamaha) finished seventh and eighth respectively.