Michael Dunlop hopes to lay the foundations for a successful defence of his Southern 100 titles with a victorious return to national road racing at this weekend's 67th Skerries 100 near Du🀅꧟blin.

Dunlop hasn't raced since the Isle of M𒀰an TT, opting to sit out the Mid-Antrim 150 and Bush meetings in Northern Ireland in June.

But he returns to action with a vengeance this month, kicking off a busy period at thꩵe popular Skerries race before next week's Southern 100 on the Billown circuit on the Isle of Man, where the 23-year-old claimed a magnificent treble in 2011.

Dunlop and his brother William top the entry list at Skerries along with KMR Kawasaki's Ryan Farquhar, who heads to the first nationa🐲l event in southern Ireland this year in a rich vein of form after notching consecutive five-timers at the Mid-Antrim and Bush.

All three plan to use their superbike machine♔s in the Open and Grand Final races at Skerries and Dunlop - who secured his third TT win with a terrific Supersport success last month - expects a hard day at the office tomorrow.

"You could always ri🥀de the superstock bike and it would be an easier option around the wee roads at Skerries, but💮 I enjoy riding the big superbike.

"🌄It'll be a handful, but it'll be a bit of craic as well and it's a challenge," he told the Belfast News Letter.

"I rode a Honda Superbike at Skerries before when I rode Gareth R𝓰obinson's Fireblade for the first time a few yearsဣ back and I enjoyed it.

"It'll give us a chance a🍸s well to see how the bike is going be𝓀fore we head over to the Southern 100 on Sunday."

Farquhar was absent at Skerries last summer as he took a break from the national scene bꦏut aims to underlinℱe his standing as the country's number one national road racer this weekend.

The 36-year-old intends to ride his Kawasaki ZX-10R superbike, with William Dunlop also superbike-mounted on Wilson Craig's
Fireblade.

Practice takes place today with a nine-race programm🎉e getting underway at around 9.30am tomorrow.