Faugheen 50 Road Races: Michael Sweeney clinches pole hat-trick in County Tipperary

The Irish national road race is back on the calendar for the first time since 2019 following successive cancellations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sweeney, who has been in excellent form at the national meetings this season, has endured a hectic 10 days after competing at Walderstown in County Westmeath before travelling to the Isle of Man for the Southern 100, where he claimed several top-five finishes, and making the trip back to Ireland in time for the Faugheen meeting near Carrick-on-Suir.

He took pole in the Open Superbike class on his MJR BMW by 1.4s from Cork man Mike Browne (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki), with Waterford’s Brian McCormack in third on the FHO Racing BMW.

McCormack is back in action at an Irish national road race, taking the opportunity to ride the M1000RR at his home event.

Sweeney narrowly sealed pole in the Supersport qualifying session by just 0.032s from Skerries winner Browne on the Burrows Yamaha, with McCormack again third quickest (PHR Performance Triumph).

In the Supertwin class, Sweeney was four seconds faster than Stephen Tobin on his Kawasaki, while Browne was also over four seconds faster than anyone else as he bagged pole for the Moto3 race on the Burrows Honda.

The Faugheen 50 meeting is the last Irish national road race of the year in the Republic of Ireland before the action returns to Northern Ireland at Armoy from July 29-30.