History was made at the Isle of Man TT Races as Michael Dunlop won the Metzeler Supertwin TT Race 1 for a record-breaking 27th victory to become the most successful rider in TT history, breaking the 24-year old record of 26 TT wins held by his uncle Joey.
Dunlop led from start to finish to win by 20.4 seconds from Peter Hickman (Swan Racing Yamaha), in a race-record time of 56 minutes 15.993 seconds, with Dominic Herbertson (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Paton) claiming a maiden TT podium in third.
An opening lap of 121.044mph gave Dunlop a 10.2 second advantage over new second placed rider Hickman (119.950mph), as they came in for their mandatory put stop.
Dunlop added half a second to his lead round as he reached Glen Helen on the second lap but showed his prowess on the high-speed run to Ballaugh with the lead shooting up to 13s and round Ramsey Hairpin for the second time, he was looking secure in the lead as he extended his lead over Hickman to 14 seconds.
Hickman had now overhauled Herbertson on the road with the latter still holding onto the final podium position. Browne was only 2.5 seconds adrift though in fourth.
Heading into the third and final lap, Hickman had taken two seconds back on Dunlop, the gap between the two rivals now 12 seconds as they started the final 37.73 miles. Herbertson, in turn, was a further 14 seconds back in third and his advantage over Browne was only 5 seconds. Coward was still in the hunt for third as he was only 1.2 seconds back on Browne.
Dunlop was now running on the road with Coward in his slipstream – the latter claiming the quickest ever sector time from Ballaugh to Ramsey – with Hickman and Herbertson doing likewise but the gap between first and second was continuing to increase and as Dunlop took the chequered flag, his lap of 122.434mph gave him a history-making victory over Hickman by 20.4 seconds.
The race for third saw Herbertson come out on top for his first ever TT podium, 5.4 seconds ahead of Coward as both riders lapped at more than 121mph on their final lap, Browne held on for fifth ahead of Todd, Rutter, Yeardsley, AJ Venter (TH Racing Kawasaki) Pierre-Yves Bian (VAS Engine Paton).
