The 2024 King of the Roads championship arrived in the small village of Armoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland for its latest event. For one weekend every July, roads surrounding the village are transformed into a road racing venue, named the Race of Legends. This part of Northern Ireland has a rich history with road racing, and the Armoy Armada, comprised of Mervyn Robinson, Frank Kennedy and Joey Dunlop, were local legends in the 1970s, dominating the scene for many years. Now Joey’s nephew Michael has made a name for himself, winning nine Race of Legends events, while Frank’s brother Bill is the current Clerk of the Course at the Armoy road races.

For the King of the Roads, the two Superbike events would make up races 10 and 11 in this years’ campaign. Current points leader Davey Todd, fresh from victory in the Southern 100 championship race, had to be the pre-event favourite, but the likes of Jamie Coward, Dominic Herbertson and Phil Crowe were guaranteed to push him all the way.

Conditions were dry for Friday’s qualifying session, and Todd further asserted his position as odds on bet for victory with a record breaking lap of 1:39.605 to confirm his place on pole position. Behind, Phil Crowe, Paul Jordan, Dom Herbertson, Jamie Coward and Mike Browne were covered by less than 1 second. 

Despite the threat of rain in the forecast, the weather couldn’t have been better on Saturday race day, and the first Superbike Open race got the green flag at just before 1pm. Todd successfully converted pole position into the race lead, and quickly began opening up a gap to the chasing pack. The Englishman was never headed across the 7 lap encounter, and finished over 10 seconds ahead of second place. Phil Crowe was next best while Jamie Coward completed the podium in third.

The Race of Legends was the final race of the day, and once more Todd was untouchable, raising the lap record to over 109mph. Phil Crowe finished runner up once again and Dom Herbertson this time got the better of Jamie Coward for third place.

In the King of the Roads standings, Todd holds a handy 53 point lead. Herbertson is next best as Dunlop slips to third place.

The penultimate event on the calendar is the Aberdare Road Races on the first weekend of August.