Tandragee 100: Michael Dunlop seals hard-fought Superbike win as Michael Sweeney smashes outright lap record
Michael Dunlop won his first race at the Around A Pound Tandragee 100 in 13 years after a thrilling scrap in the Open Superbike race with Michael Sweeney on Saturday.
Dunlop, riding his MD Racing BMW, was pushed all the way to the finish in the five-lap showdown by Sweeney, who smashed the outright lap record for the 5.3-mile course on his MJR BMW on the penultimate lap.
Sweeney upped the benchmark to 109.796mph (2m 55.212s), bettering Dan Kneen’s 2018 lap record of 109.609mph.
Dunlop was also under the old lap record with a speed of 109.755mph, only a few hundredths of a second off Sweeney’s best.
The Ulsterman last raced at Tandragee in 2013, when he won both Superbike races on a Honda Fireblade.
Dunlop 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 Shaun Anderson (Team Classic Suzuki).
Dunlop moved into second place on lap two, 0.4s behind Sweeney.
The 33-time Isle of Man TT winner then hit the front, but he was unable to shake off the determined Irishman.
On a breathless final lap, Dunlop prevailed for his 12th victory at the event by 0.411s from Sweeney, while Manxman Conor Cummins came through to pip Browne for the final podium place on the last lap.
Cummins, riding the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing BMW, is competing at Tandragee for the first time since 2007.
He had been locked in a battle with Anderson, but the Banbridge man dropped back to sixth on the fourth lap on his Suzuki.
Cummins was 7.7s behind Sweeney, with Browne close behind in fourth.
Marcus Simpson (WH Racing powered by Dynobike Honda) and Anderson completed the first six.
Ryan Whitehall (WR Racing Yamaha) and Neil Kernohan (Kernohan Racing Yamaha) finished seventh and eighth respectively.
The Open race was delayed following a red flag incident on the fourth and final lap of the Junior Support race.
Sean Brolly was the winner on his Aprilia 660 from Kevin Lavery (Kawasaki) and Lee Osprey (Trison McMullan Racing Kawasaki).