Dazzling Dunlop wins 10th Supersport TT in a row

Image source, Pacemaker PressImage caption,

Michael Dunlop made it a remarkable 10 consecutive Supersport TT wins in a row

ByRichard PetrieBBC Sport NI journalist

Published55 minutes ago

Michael Dunlop continued his dominance of the Supersport class at the Isle of Man TT by taking his second victory of the week in that category and increasing his record total of career wins at the international road race event to 35.

The Northern Ireland rider's double in the middleweight class means he has won 17 Supersport TT races, and remarkably the past 10 in succession.

That unbeaten run stretches from 2022 to the present day.

Race two followed a similar pattern to Tuesday's first race as Dunlop trailed Honda Racing's Dean Harrison in the early stages but a quicker pit-stop by the Scars Racing rider's crew saw him assume the lead and gradually extend his advantage to claim a convincing success.

The 37-year-old's eventual winning margin after three laps of the 37.73-mile Mountain Course was 26.126 seconds, with Triumph-mounted Peter Hickman a further 13.5 seconds further back in third to make it the same podium as in race one.

Harrison led by 1.4 seconds at Glen Helen on the opening lap and built a 3.85-seconds advantage by The Bungalow timing point.

That cushion was reduced slightly to 3.66 seconds by the end of the first circuit as Harrison clocked the fastest ever Supersport lap from a standing start at 129.218mph.

Dunlop gained five seconds in the pits however to move ahead as they went out on lap two.

The Ducati V2 rider had 16 seconds to spare over his nearest rival by the end of the second lap and continued to incrementally increase his advantage until the chequered flag.

"The career's been good round here. It's fantastic. The bike was phenomenal, really mint," said Dunlop on Manx Radio Motorsport after his triumph.

"The boys were great in the pit-stop and I knew I needed to up my game on the second lap, so I pushed on."

Harrison said he was "happy" with a second place finish, explaining that his bike was "faultless" throughout the race.

"There's not a lot you can do. That was the fastest I've ever gone on the 600 Honda, the bike never missed a beat," he explained.

Republic of Ireland rider Mike Browne edged out Paul Jordan by 0.9 seconds for fourth spot, with Australian Josh Brookes rounding out the top six, 1.6 seconds in arrears of Jordan.

The first Sportbike race of the week is scheduled to start at 15:15 BST, with the blue riband Senior TT set to commence at 17:15.