Due to the Covid pandemic, road racing finally returned to the county Antrim village of Armoy at the weekend, and from the first practise session, it was clear that Melissa Kennedy was intent on continuing on from where she had left in 2019 in the Moto3 class.

Mixed road conditions on Friday didn’t make things easy though, and unfortunately the session had to be stopped after Melissa was caught up in an incident with two other riders. Undeterred, when the session resumed, she managed to post the second fastest time behind the Joey’s Bar Honda of Mike Browne, which set her up perfectly for a front row start on race day.

As the flag dropped, Kennedy got a great start, and led into the village on the three mile circuit. Browne then took the lead and held it to the end, and although third place finisher Eoin O’Siochru was putting the pressure on in the latter stages of the seven lap race, Kennedy held on to take second place by 1/50th of a second.

Having been involved in the Classic races with his dad for a couple of seasons, Kyle Parkes is now onboard a 125 Honda, and had a good qualifying session, coming home in ninth position. Having made his way up to fifth place with great riding in the race, disaster was to strike on lap three when a fuel pipe was dislodged putting him out of the race. One positive to be taken from Armoy, is that Kyle is very capable of battling with more experienced riders in his class. Run concurrently, it was Barry Davidson who took the win in the Supersport 300 class from RJ Woolsey and Linton Irwin.

One of the biggest classes in road racing is the Senior Support, and unfortunately one of Enniskillen club members, Adrian Heraty was placed on the reserve list, which meant there was always going to be a possibility he wouldn’t take part unless another rider pulled out.

However, two other club members were also involved. Liam Trainor and Keith Richardson, both newcomers to the Armoy circuit, had good qualifying sessions, finishing seventh and 15th respectively.

Having their own private battles on the circuit during the Saturday race, Trainor rode superbly to finish in fifth position, having had only one previous road race under his belt, while Richardson made up a place to 14th.

The top three in the race were Eoin O’Siochru, Jack Oliver and Keelim Ryan. O’Siochru made it a double when he took victory in the Junior Support from Kevin Baker and Michael Gillan.

Ederney’s seasoned road racer Paul Gartland was also in action at the same venue in both the Supertwin and Superbike classes.

With 39 entries in the Supertwins, Paul qualified18th in group A in this highly competitive class, but he did manage to make up a couple of places on race day, crossing the line in 16th.

The race was won by Derek McGee, with Joe Loughlin and Adam McLean completing the podium. The Supertwin B race was won by Anthony Redmond, with Matthew Rees second and Michael Gillan in third.

In the Superbike B qualifying, Gartland improved on his lap times as the session went on, but the gremlins struck during the race, and had to retire with technical issues half way through. The race was won by Sam Johnson, with Stephen Tobin and Tommy Henry second and third respectively.

This weekend, short circuit action will return to Bishopscourt with the Ulster Superbike round hosted by the Temple Motorcycle Club, with many of the Enniskillen club members in action.