Manx riders had mixed fortunes at the Armoy road race meeting in County Antrim last weekend.

Situated in the hotbed of Northern Irish road racing, a mere eight miles from Ballymoney and about 12 miles south-east of the North West 200 course, the roads that make up the three-mile course were often used by the legendary members of the Armoy Armada for unofficial testing [Frank Kennedy, Mervyn Robinson, Jim and Joe Dunlop], hence the title ‘Race of Legends’.

Southern Ireland’s Mike Browne was the standout performer in 2025 with four wins, while Paul Jordan also grabbed his share of the headlines with a Supertwin double. He was rewarded for his consistency across both days of racing with the man-of-the-meeting trophy.

Laxey’s Joe Yeardsley started well with a third place in the Supertwins on Friday evening from seventh on the grid, the race being won by Jordan from Michael Sweeney. Marcus Simpson was sixth.

Indifferent weather caused some delays on Saturday, as did an oil spill from a classic machine, which took time to clean up.

Having qualified second quickest for the Supersport (winning the Group B race), Conor Cummins had to settle for fourth on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Ducati behind Browne, Sweeney and Jordan. Dave Rigby was 13th, but Yeardsley was a non-finisher with a front brake issue after being third in the qualifier behind Cummins and Sweeney.

Browne won the first Superbike race from fellow Irishman Sweeney by 8.8s, with Cummins sixth behind Jamie Coward and Neil Kernohan. Yeardsley was 13th on the Scott Racing Motorcycles Aprilia. Simpson was fourth in his qualifier but a non-starter for the race.

Dan Sayle was flying during qualifying, topping the Moto3 class on a 250 Honda. He chalked up the fastest lap of the race at 88.066mph, but a fall at Village corner on Saturday put a bit of a dampener on his weekend.

He was runner-up to Nigel Moore in the Junior Classic (Pre-1973) race on a 350 Honda; qualified fourth for the Senior Unlimited Classic race on John Chapman’s MV Agusta, but did not race. He was also fourth quickest in practice for the 250cc GP class (one place behind the leading 400 of a certain Jeremy McWilliams), but once again did not race.

The feature race went to Browne by 4.3s from Jordan, with Sweeney third. Cummins fluffed the start and was last into the first chicane, but scythed his way through the field on the BMW and was less than two 10ths of a second off the podium in fourth place at the finish.

Jamie Coward, Phillip Crowe and ‘Spartacus’ Simpson (WH Racing by Dynobike Honda) were closely grouped between fifth and seventh.

Highlights from the meeting will be on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.20pm on Saturday, August 2. Alternatively watch on demand on BBC iPlayer.

The Manx Grand Prix and Classic TT are taking place between Sunday, August 17 and Friday, August 29.

Manx Grand Prix race days - Saturday, August 23 and Monday, August 25; Classic TT - Wednesday, August 27 and Friday, August 29.