Dunlop makes it three in a row for Tyco BMW

William Dunlop made it three feature race wins in a row for Tyco BMW at the opening three road race meetings of 2015 when he splashed to victory at the Tandragee 100 on Saturday.

Following on Guy Martin’s success at the Scarborough Spring Cup and Cookstown 100, Dunlop braved horrendous weather to take his first win on the German machine on the 5.3 mile Co Armagh circuit.

“It was worthwhile going to Tandragee and I’m a bit more comfortable on the Tyco BMW, which was always the plan this weekend.” The 29 year old said after taking the chequered flag.

“The changes that we made for the second race at Cookstown and the further changes for Tandragee have helped us make big steps forward. Yes we still have a bit of work to do before the TT, but it was really nice to win on a big bike, which is confidence inspiring.”

Unlike the Open race ran on Friday evening, in which the Ballymoney man lost out to Ryan Farquhar and his SGS/KMR ZX10R Kawasaki on Farquhar’s comeback to superbike racing on the roads, Saturday’s encounter was far from being a classic because of the inclement weather. Heavy rain and a freezing cold wind decimated the event with Farquhar opting to sit out the main race. Fellow returnee, Keith Amor, was also on his way back to Scotland by the time the flag fell to start the race. Jamie Hamilton finished a distant second behind Dunlop’s BMW on his Burrows Engineering Cookstown Suzuki with Derek McGee taking third on his Supersport spec Craig Honda.

Dunlop made it a double by winning the 600cc race ahead of the same riders, with McGee clinching second this time. Dunlop’s superfast Marcus Eschenbacher built CD Racing R6 Yamaha has now won three races from three starts after his double at Cookstown, boding well for the North West 200 and TT.

With most of the rain lashed fans heading for home after the feature race few people witnessed Jeremy McWilliams making his Tandragee debut on the Winfield Paton in the Senior Classic race. The Grand Prix legend finished third behind Ryan Farquhar on a similar machine.

Farquhar made it a Tandragee treble by winning the 450cc race. Ian Morrell was the 400cc winner, Paul Robinson took victory in the 125cc event and Derek McGee won the Supertwins race.