Photo: IOMTT
Michael Dunlop continued his attack on the Isle of Man TT races with his third win this week. He joined legendary names Giacomo Agostini, Stanley Woods, Rob Fisher and Ian Lougher with his 10th by leading the second Monster Energy Supersport TT race from start to finish.
Riding his own MD Racing Honda, Dunlop gradually reeled in Bruce Anstey, who started 10 seconds in front of him on the road, and the pair circulated together for the second half of the race, the gap at the end 10.089 sec as the Kiwi, in a display of sportsmanship, let Michael take the chequered flag first. William Dunlop took third on the Tyco Suzuki.
Dunlop said, “The tires worked from the first corner; I caught Bruce [Anstey] and sat back because I didn’t want to get too involved. We lost about three or four seconds in the pit-stop so I caught Bruce back and then I just sat there because I didn’t need to go any harder. We’re getting there and we’ll keep plugging away because we don’t want to get carried away with ourselves.”
Dunlop set the fastest lap of the race at 127.403 mph, but once he caught Bruce Anstey on the road he controlled his advantage of nine seconds until the finish.
Veteran TT expert John McGuinness overcame his still injured wrist to capture his 21st victory on the same day, taking the SES TT Zero (electric bike) race in record-breaking style. Riding the Mugen Shinden, McGuinness was always in the lead and with a stunning new lap record of 117.366mph, he came home 23.3 seconds clear of team-mate Bruce Anstey. Rob Barber, on the Ohio State University Buckeye machine, took third.
The remaining races set for Friday are the Lighweight and Senior (basically, open class, another Superbike race), give Dunlop the chance to equal Ian Hutchinson’s incredible record of five wins set in 2010.
