William on the CD Racing Yamaha which will feature at Kells Road Races

William Dunlop will make a return to racing at the Carole Nash Kells Road Races, in association with Road Racing Ireland magazine, in Co Meath.

Dunlop suffered heavy bruising and a broken rib in a 100mph practice crash on the Glen Helen section of the TT circuit just over a fortnight ago, but having received extensive treatment from Osteopath Michael Kerr he's ready to race this weekend.

"Considering the nature of my crash at the TT, I'm not in too bad condition," said the Ballymoney man, who will race his CD/IC Racing R6 Yamaha at Kells, in both the tough Supersport and Open races.

There will be no Tyco BMW machinery at the popular Co Meath event for Dunlop to ride, but he's confident he can accumulate some decent points on the little Yamaha, which is built and tuned to World Supersport specification.

"I'm not going to Kells to just ride around," said Dunlop.

"I feel quite good today [Thursday] and by the weekend I'll hopefully feel that little bit better, thanks to the efforts of Micky Kerr. I want to win the Irish Superbike and Supersport titles this year, so I'm going to Kells to score some decent points."

The Co Meath event kicks off tonight (Friday), with a classic run.

All proceeds will go to Down's Syndrome Ireland, in recognition of Irish motorcycle journalist Aidan Lynam - co-founder of the organisation - who sadly lost his life in a road traffic incident just last month.

Dunlop will head up an impressive 120 strong entry that includes Mullingar's Derek McGee, who made an auspicious start to his TT career earlier this month.

The Wilson Craig Racing pilot will start the meeting as favourite in a number of classes, after the TT claimed the fitness of a number of notable absentees.

These include Jamie Hamilton, Keith Amor and Michael Sweeney with Michael Dunlop also a certain non-starter.
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On a positive note, the event has attracted some up-and-coming young stars, and the fairer sex will be represented by Melissa Kennedy from Enniskillen and Veronika Hankocyova from the Czech Republic.