On the road: Adam McLean leads Paul Jordan and Davey Todd at Armoy road races in 2018.
Credit: Stephen Davison

With two months still to go, the Bayview Hotel Race of Legends at Armoy has already seen bumper entries from all over the Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom with almost 30 newcomers to date.

Team principal of Wilson Craig, Darren Gilpin, confirmed that Bolton rider Davey Todd, who had a decent weekend at Scarborough recently with the team, would be on the grid at Armoy while ex-MotoGP, British Superbike, German and Dutch Superbike Championships rider Chris Burns, from Newcastle, will make his Irish road race debut with Antrim’s Steven Smith the third member of the team.

Gilpin said:

“Davey is well known to road race fans, but although Chris is new to road racing he has extensive experience and this is something he has always wanted to do for some time, part of his motivation being that his father was a former TT competitor.”

Armoy Clerk of the Course Bill Kennedy said:

“Generally at this time of year, I’m visiting various road races asking riders to get their entries in.

"However, this year, probably due to the pandemic, people just want to race, so our entry at this stage is looking strong indeed.”

The club have confirmed Mullingar rider Derek McGee, Michael Sweeney from Skerries and TT and Classic TT rider Dominic Herbertson from Hexham will be on the grid, while local club members Darryl Tweed and Neil Kernohan will be in the mix along with Magherafelt competitor Paul Jordan.

Kennedy continued:

“We have some top-class riders and they are sure to provide some interesting racing come the last weekend in July.

“We still have much work to be done; working through restrictions and what different bodies and government departments are telling us. I’m fairly certain we will have to run with some sort of restrictions, but like everything it is a massive and evolving task.”

The interesting question will be just how many spectators are allowed at the event or, come July, what restrictions are in place at all.


Ballymena-based Hilton Car Sales is the latest local company to add its name to the list of sponsors for this year’s Armoy Road Races, backing the Supersport race.