Michael Dunlop secured his 131st Irish road race victory at the Tandragee 100 McCrum's Motorcycles Open Race after shattering the all-time qualifying lap record.
The Northern Irish rider clocked a lap of 110.076 mph around the 5.3-mile course in County Armagh on Friday, June 26, 2026.
Dunlop edged out Mike Browne by four-tenths of a second to claim Superbike pole position on his MD Racing BMW.
Michael Sweeney placed third fastest at 107.916 mph.
The qualifying session faced disruptions due to low sun and safety concerns, forcing officials to halt Junior Support and Lightweight qualifying.
Two non-championship races were postponed after red flags and delays.
Police were called to intervene in an altercation between a spectator and course marshals.
Dunlop entered the event as the outright lap record holder at 111.584 mph, aiming to overcome grid misfortunes from the previous year.
Last year, issues with his Ducati V2 forced him to start from the second wave.
“They wanted to put me on the back of the first group and then somebody protested about that, so they put me on the second group,” said Dunlop.
He explained that the grid placement caused significant delays due to heavy track traffic on the narrow course.
“It was just the amount of traffic, and with the roads being so tight here… when you’re catching people in real bad areas you’re just losing so much time,” said Dunlop.
Despite the traffic struggles, Dunlop noted that their underlying speed remained highly competitive.
“I didn’t have a free lap and we broke the lap record by nearly three seconds, so it just goes to show the pace we had at the front,” said Dunlop.
He concluded by attributing the grid arrangement decision entirely to the event officials.
“It’s just the way it was and the way the organisers done it,” said Dunlop.
In the Open Race held in mixed, damp, and drying conditions, Browne initially established a 2.388-second lead by the second lap.
Dunlop reduced the deficit by over 1.6 seconds on lap three, made his decisive pass for the lead at the end of lap five, and sealed a 4.169-second victory over Browne.
Conor Cummins finished third on his Conrod Motorsport BMW.
Ryan Whitehall placed fourth, Marcus Simpson fifth, and Shaun Buckle sixth.
The remaining top ten positions were claimed by Darryl Anderson, Joe Loughlin, James Chawke, and Richard McLoughlin.
Notable early retirements included Michael Sweeney and Kevin Keyes.
