Fatal accident mars Tandragee 100 road races

The Tandragee 100 road races in Northern Ireland were overshadowed by a fatal accident involving a competitor in a support race.

Noel Murphy, from Lusk near Dublin, died in the incident, which happened on the fifth and final lap of the Junior Support race for 201cc-400cc and 650cc machines.

Mr Murphy's father insisted that the meeting should continue despite the tragedy and following a long delay, racing went ahead, although many riders decided not to compete.

In 2008, another Lusk racer - Martin Finnegan - also lost his life at the Tandragee meeting.

Earlier in the day, William Dunlop won the Supersport 600 race to claim his first victory for Tyco Suzuki with Keith Amor finishing as the runner-up on his return to the sport after announcing his retirement at the end of the 2011 season.

Manx rider Dan Kneen was a double winner in the Superbike class on his debut at the circuit. Kneen won Friday night's race from Derek McGee and Jamie Hamilton. The result was declared after two laps when the race was red flagged due to an incident involving Yorkshire's Jamie Coward, whose condition was reported as non life-threatening.

Kneen also won Saturday's feature Superbike event, which was reduced to three laps. Shaun Anderson finished as the runner-up from Davy Morgan.

Ryan Farquhar, meanwhile, also returned to action at Tandragee for the first time since 2012 and boosted his record of Irish national road race wins to 200 as he took victory in the Classic event on Roger Winfield's 500 Paton.

Farquhar also triumphed in the Moto450 class, while Connor Behan from Cheshire took the Supertwin spoils on the SGS International/KMR Kawasaki.