David Datzer ahead of the Armoy Road Races: “I’m a bit nervous this time”

In the late 1970s, four motorbike racers – consisting of the brothers Joe – at that time, the ‘y’ at the end of his first name was still missing – and Jim Dunlop, their future brother-in-law Mervyn Robinson and Frank Kennedy, set out from the tranquil little village of Armoy, with a population of just 1,000, to take the road racing scene by storm. The speedy quartet from Northern Ireland, who raced from victory to victory, became known as the ‘Armoy Armada’.

To keep alive the story of the successes of these four popular riders – all of whom, with the exception of Jim Dunlop, paid for their passion with their lives – the Armoy Road Races were organised for the first time in 2009 on a three-meilan-long course, and have since proved popular with riders and fans alike. More recently, the German Chris Meyer and the Austrian Julian Trummer have also taken part in the event.

This year, German rider David Datzer will travel to the north of Northern Ireland as part of Team Roadhouse Macau to compete in the ‘Race of Legends’ on 25 July: ‘It’s been my wish for quite some time to compete in an Irish Road Racing Championship race in Northern Ireland. I’d actually planned to do the Cookstown 100, but by the end of April the bike wasn’t ready yet. So now I’ve decided on Armoy.”

“Brian McCormack and I agreed at the Tourist Trophy that I’d be racing for his Team Roadhouse Macau at Armoy on the BMW M1000RR and the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS. The organisers are keen to have me on board and I’m really looking forward to it. Somehow I’m a bit nervous this time, because I only know the track layout from videos and the many jumps will certainly take some getting used to.”