Michael Dunlop made history at the Isle of Man TT Races on Saturday afternoon when he won the Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 1 to equal the record tally of 26 wins held by his uncle, Joey Dunlop.
Dunlop had to come from behind after being third on the opening lap but took the lead on the run to Ballaugh on lap two and eventually took the victory – his 12th Supersport win – by 8.5 seconds from Davey Todd (Powertoolmate Ducati) with early race leader Dean Harrison (Honda Racing) taking third.
It was Dunlop’s 40th TT podium which also equalled the figure held by Joey Dunlop.
An opening lap of 128.037mph for Harrison gave him a lead over Todd (127.798mph) of almost two seconds and Dunlop, although still third, was more than three seconds off the race lead. Coward (126.800mph), Hillier (126.325mph) and Hind (126.021mph) completed the top six ahead of Hickman, Evans, Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing Honda) and Josh Brookes (Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing Yamaha).
It was all change at Ballaugh though as Dunlop took the lead from Harrison by half a second with Todd a further half second behind. But by Ramsey, Dunlop’s charge was clear to see as he extended his lead to two seconds with Todd having overhauled Harrison for second.
Coward and Harrison continued to do battle on the road and all the time Dunlop was pulling away, a second lap of 128.833mph giving him a 4.5 second lead over Todd.
Todd took a second out of Dunlop’s lead from Glen Helen to Ballaugh and another four tenths to Ramsey which meant the gap stood at 4.1 seconds as they made the Mountain climb for the penultimate time. It was down to 3.9 seconds at the Bungalow but starting the fourth and final lap, Dunlop had responded and stretched his advantage to five seconds.
He wasn’t to be outdone either and continually extended his lead throughout the final 37.73 miles to take an extremely popular victory by 8.5 seconds with Todd taking his best TT result in second – he also set the quickest ever lap by a Ducati around the Mountain Course at 128.785mph.
Harrison claimed a 27th TT podium in third with Hillier taking a comfortable fourth place from an excellent Hind, fifth being his best TT result, whilst Brookes overhauled Jordan on the final run down the Mountain for sixth. The top ten was completed by Mike Browne on the second BPE/Russell Racing Yamaha, Hickman and Evans.
The Crowe Brothers took the race 1 win in the Sidecar class.
