3 days ago
Corkman Mike Browne claims fantastic four-timer at the Armoy Road Races
Cork's Mike Browne joined an elite group of riders after winning the prestigious 'Race of Legends' at the Armoy Road Races yesterday for a fantastic four-timer.
The Killeagh man followed up his Supersport victory on Friday with a hat-trick yesterday, winning both Superbike encounters and the second Supersport race.
Browne gave himself some work to do in the feature Legends race after slipping back at the start, but he soon scythed his way through from fourth place to close in on race leader Paul Jordan.
Browne made his move to lead on the third lap on the BPE by Russell Racing Honda and soon pulled clear of Jordan (Jackson Racing Honda), going on to secure a prized success by 4.3s.
Jordan held onto the runner-up spot ahead of Skerries rider Michael Sweeney (MJR BMW), who fended off a late attack from Manx ace Conor Cummins (Burrows/RK Racing BMW) for third.
A delighted Browne said: 'I still made a lot of work for myself in the start of that race and maybe tried a bit too hard to get past on the first two laps – I did make a few mistakes – and then I said settle down, we've a few laps to go.
'I got a bit more in control and got it to the line. Alistair (Russell) and the team have done an awful lot of work the last two weeks because we just got that bike and we're trying to make it our own.'
Pole man Jordan was left to rue his choice of front tyre, opting for an intermediate on a course that was rapidly drying out after rain in the afternoon.
'We went for the wrong tyre choice on the front which is my own fault,' he said.
'To be honest, 10 minutes before the start we were still on a wet set-up and fair play to the boys, the rear shock was out, and to get them a second is good.'
Browne won the Open Superbike race, which was delayed due to wet roads.
He overhauled early leader Sweeney and eased away, winning in the end by almost nine seconds from Sweeney, with Jordan – who opted to ride the 600cc Jackson Racing Honda – taking third.
Jamie Coward, Neil Kernohan (Yamaha) and Cummins completed the top six.
In the Supersport race, Browne was pushed hard by Jordan, who was only three tenths of a second behind after three laps.
There was little to separate the pair, but Browne was able to fend off Jordan on the final laps, winning in the end by half-a-second and setting the fastest lap of the race at 104.932mph.
Sweeney (EM Building Yamaha) overtook Coward (KTS Macadam Triumph) to snatch third, with Cummins next on the Burrows Ducati ahead of Joe Yeardsley (Yamaha).
In mixed conditions after some light rain, Jordan won the Supertwin race for a double in the class on his Jackson Racing Aprilia by over nine seconds from Barry Furber.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Rea crashed twice in yesterday's World Superbike race in Hungary. Rea was in a fight for seventh place at the Balaton Park track when he went down at Turn 1 with six laps to go. The Yamaha rider then crashed again on lap 16.
Toprak Razgatlioglu won on the factory BMW to increase his title lead over Ducati's Nicolo Bulega, who finished second.
In the British Superbike Championship, Bradley Ray won yesterday's race at Brands Hatch from Scott Redding to increase his lead at the top. Northern Ireland's Andrew Irwin was 11th.
Lee Johnston finished third in the British Supersport race and David Allingham won the Superstock 1000 race.
