Michael Dunlop became the second most successful rider in history at the Isle of Man TT Races with a start to finish victory on Tuesday’s Carole Nash Supertwin Race.
It was Dunlop’s 24th TT win which puts him just two behind the record total of 26 held by his uncle Joey.
Riding the SC Project Paton, Dunlop led from start to finish to win by more than twenty seconds from Mike Browne (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Paton), the Irishman edging out Jamie Coward (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan Kawasaki) after a race-long battle.
Over Ballaugh Bridge for the last time and Coward had got back into second albeit by the miniscule margin of 0.011s and it was clear it was going to go down to the wire with the difference between the two at Ramsey back to 1.2s in favour of Browne.
The Southern Irishman added another tenth of a second to his advantage as he passed over the tramlines at the Bungalow and with Dunlop running out victor by 26.7 seconds at the chequered flag, Browne held on for his first TT podium, edging out Coward by 2.2 seconds after a titanic battle.
Hickman, Brookes and Bian maintained their fourth to sixth place positions – Brookes equalling his best TT result – with Herbertson holding station in seventh and it was Rutter who came through for eighth ahead of Furber, who took a career best ninth, and Rob Hodson.
Earlier in the day, Peter Hickman brought Michael Dunlop’s run of success at the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races to an end this afternoon when he convincingly won the first RL360 Superstock TT Race by 23.17 seconds.
Today’s win being Hickman’s fourth consecutive superstock win, bringing his total number of TT wins up to 10, placing him alongside TT greats such as Stanley Woods, Ian Lougher and Giacomo Agostini.
Riding the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW, Hickman grabbed the lead at Ballaugh on the opening lap and never looked back with Dunlop (MD Racing Honda) having to settle for second on this occasion with Dean Harrison (DAO Racing Kawasaki) once again taking third.
Hickman was on outright lap record pace on the final lap, let alone Superstock lap record pace, but in the end, he eased off in the final miles although he still set the fastest lap of the race at 134.331mph.
