William Dunlop's exclusive Keep 'er Lit column

I had a really good day at Armoy on Saturday.
William Dunlop on the MMB Yamaha R1 at Armoy.William Dunlop on the MMB Yamaha R1 at Armoy.
William Dunlop on the MMB Yamaha R1 at Armoy.

The roads were still wet around the wee technical bit of the course before the 600 race but it was drying elsewhere. The Metzeler tyres are very good in dodgy conditions and they worked really well.

Some of the other riders had heavier cut tyres on but I was able to hang on to them at the start when it was wetter and then once it started to dry up more, it worked out well for me.

It’s nice to win the Ulster and Irish Championships as well because I haven’t done all the 600 races this year.

The first Superbike race I was close in behind Derek Sheils on the last lap at the last road end, but I was never really in a position to try and pass him. A slower rider got in the way a bit and when I came out of the corner I lost all my drive.

I was really happy overall on the big bike because my lap time was so good, which is really encouraging. I was over a second faster than I’ve ever been before on a Superbike at Armoy, which is good for me because I don’t really go well on a big bike there for some reason.

I was only 0.3 or 0.4 second slower than Michael’s lap time in that race.

We had a stone in the radiator before the last big race but then when it was red-flagged, we took a gamble and changed a few things on the bike and it worked.

But the only problem was we didn’t get the tyres warmed up enough and it took me a while to get going. We got another third in the end to get the man of the meeting award, which was nice because it’s been a hard year and it’s a good boost before the Ulster Grand Prix.

I’m really happy because there’s more to come from the big bike and we’re only scratching the surface, so it bodes well for Dundrod.

William Dunlop was talking to Kyle White.

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