The armoy armadacrew set sail again

PACEMAKER, BELFAST, 25/7/2014:

THE ARMOY ARMADA RIDES AGAIN!
The famous 1970s road racing quartet, the Armoy Armada, whose members Joey and Jim Dunlop, Mervyn Robinson and Frank Kennedy all hailed from the Co Antrim village, was honoured in a special tribute ride today.
Jim Dunlop, the only surviving member of the foursome, joined Paul Robinson, the son of Mervyn, William Dunlop, Joey's nephew and Bill Kennedy, the brother of Frank, to ride their original race bikes down through the Dark Hedges at Stranocum before practise began for the Armoy event.
"Sitting warming up the old bike this morning brought back a lot of memories." Jim, the brother of the late Joey and Robert Dunlop, said afterwards.
It had been over 30 years since Jim rode the Rea Racing 350cc Yamsel that he raced to wins at Aghadowey, Kirkistown and St Angelo. His nephew Paul rode the Hugh O'Kane 350cc Yamsel that his father Mervyn raced to numerous Irish National road race wins in the 70s and Paul's cousin William was mounted on the Shell Ge — PACEMAKER, BELFAST, 25/7/2014: THE ARMOY ARMADA RIDES AGAIN! The famous 1970s road racing quartet, the Armoy Armada, whose members Joey and Jim Dunlop, Mervyn Robinson and Frank Kennedy all hailed from the Co Antrim village, was honoured in a special tribute ride today. Jim Dunlop, the only surviving member of the foursome, joined Paul Robinson, the son of Mervyn, William Dunlop, Joey's nephew and Bill Kennedy, the brother of Frank, to ride their original race bikes down through the Dark Hedges at Stranocum before practise began for the Armoy event. "Sitting warming up the old bike this morning brought back a lot of memories." Jim, the brother of the late Joey and Robert Dunlop, said afterwards. It had been over 30 years since Jim rode the Rea Racing 350cc Yamsel that he raced to wins at Aghadowey, Kirkistown and St Angelo. His nephew Paul rode the Hugh O'Kane 350cc Yamsel that his father Mervyn raced to numerous Irish National road race wins in the 70s and Paul's cousin William was mounted on the Shell Ge

Jim Dunlop, the only surviving member of the foursome, joined Paul Robinson, the son of Mervyn, William Dunlop, Joey’s nephew and Bill Kennedy, the brother of Frank, to ride their original race bikes down through the Dark Hedges at Stranocum before practise began for the Armoy event of Friday past.

“Sitting warming up the old bike this morning brought back a lot of memories.” Jim, the brother of the late Joey and Robert Dunlop, said afterwards.

It had been over 30 years since Jim rode the Rea Racing 350cc Yamsel that he raced to wins at Aghadowey, Kirkistown and St Angelo. His nephew Paul rode the Hugh O’Kane 350cc Yamsel that his father Mervyn raced to numerous Irish National road race wins in the 70s and Paul’s cousin William was mounted on the Shell Gemini 250cc Honda that his uncle Joey won his 12th TT on in 1988. Bill Kennedy, now the clerk of the course at Armoy, rode a RG500 Suzuki as ridden by his brother Frank.

The roads closed at 10am for the Armoy road races though highlights of the event and the Armoy Armada tribute ride will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 8am on Saturday, August 9.