North Antrim race ace Michael Dunlop will look to get the Southern 100 off to a flying start on the Isle of Man this evening.

The first three races of this year's event - kicking off with the Corlett's 600/1000cc 'A' race - commence after further practice tonight.

The opener will be followed by the 'B' race and the Station Garage 125/400/450cc event, which will see an electric bike in competition with Daley Mathison at the controls.

In the absence of Guy Martin and Honda from the meeting, the opening race should see 15-time TT winner Dunlop locking horns with Dean Harrison, who is fresh and coming off the back of seven wins from seven starts at Scarborough.

He is also the current Billown lap record holder at 114.601mph, but the likes of William Dunlop, Ivan Lintin, Jamie Coward, James Cowton on the McAdoo Kawasakis, Derek McGee and Dan Kneen will look to get in and among the action.

Local racers Adam McLean, Paul Robinson, McGee, Gary Dunlop, Darryl Tweed and Seamus Elliott are potential front runners in the 125/400cc race.

In fact, Tweed, Paul Gartland, Elliott and Robinson were inside the top six in first 125/400cc qualifying yesterday evening, while in the Supersport class Cowton set the early pace 0.101seconds faster than Coward, with Michael Dunlop a further second back in third.