Dunlop takes victory in Open race at Tandragee 100

Michael Dunlop marked his first appearance at the Tandragee 100 road races since 2013 by taking victory in the five-lap Open race on Saturday.

Riding his MD Racing BMW Superstock machine, Dunlop finished 0.4 seconds ahead of Michael Sweeney at the chequered flag, with Manxman Conor Cummins edging out Mike Browne for third place on the final corner.

Sweeney had the consolation of setting a new absolute lap record of 109.796mph on his penultimate circuit, with Dunlop also inside Dan Kneen's previous benchmark set in 2018 as he lapped at 109.755.

Sweeney led on his MJ Racing BMW after lap one, ahead of Browne, Dunlop, Shaun Anderson and Cummins, those five separated by just tenths of a second.

Dunlop, a record 33-time winner at the Isle of Man TT, had moved into second by the conclusion of the second lap thanks to the quickest lap of the race up to that point at 108.933.

By the end of the following lap, the 36-year-old had hit the front, enjoying a 0.3-second advantage over Sweeney and his cushion over the Skerries rider was marginally reduced to 0.24 seconds as the riders headed out on their final lap.

Ultimately Dunlop maintained his position at the head of affairs in front of the pursuing Sweeney to secure the 12th victory of his career at the Tandragee races.

Cummins, 39, managed to get his Burrows Engineering/RK Racing BMW ahead of Browne's BPE by Russell Racing Supersport Yamaha on the final bend to complete the podium positions, with newcomer Marcus Simpson and Shaun Anderson rounding out the top six.

The Manx rider is competing at Tandragee for the first time since his only previous appearance in 2007.

Dunlop will have further opportunities to add to his wins tally when he competes in the second Supersport race and the feature Tandragee 100 event later on Saturday.

Browne was the victor in the opening Supersport outing held on Friday evening.

Meanwhile Ballymoney's Darryl Tweed triumphed in the Supertwins race on Saturday after a thrilling four-lap battle at the front with Sweeney.

Tweed led after both of the opening two laps but Sweeney was the leader by 0.2 seconds after the pair circulated the next 5.3 miles of the county Armagh circuit.

Republic of Ireland competitor Sweeney looked to be in control going into the final corner but ran wide at Bell's Crossroads, allowing Tweed the opportunity to nip through and take victory by 1.5 seconds.

The race winner set the fastest lap of the race at 103.25mph.

Barry Furber occupied the final rostrum place, followed home by Joe Yeardsley, Simpson and Neil Kernohan.

The Tandragee races are taking place for the first time since 2022 after essential resurfacing work was carried out on the course.