Dunlop shatters records in Sportbike victory

Ballymoney man breaks lap record twice in two-lap shootout

Michael Dunlop MBE shattered the Sportbike lap record twice as he soared to victory in today's Sportbike TT Race 1.

From a standing start, Dunlop - now with 36 TT wins to his name - broke his own record in the class on his MD Racing Paton Supertwin machine at 123.637mph on lap one.

He then bettered that again on his second, flying run to the chequered flag at a mesmerising 124.53mph.

That saw the Ballymoney man finish 28.7 seconds clear of Mike Browne in second who just held off Paul Jordan in third after a both served up a gripping battle throughout.

In what would be a two-lap dash around the Snaefell Mountain Course, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was reigning champion, Dunlop leading the way on the MD Racing Paton who'd already worked a near eight-second lead over his nearest challenger at Ballaugh on lap one.

In behind though, less than 15 seconds separated Mike Browne in second to Joe Yeardsley in sixth with Paul Jordan, Peter Hickman and Jamie Coward all also in the mix at that stage.

Dunlop's pace was seeing him shattered sector time records on his way around and it showed as he crossed the line at the end of lap one as he shattered his own class lap record at 123.637mph from a standing start.

As he opened up a 17.5-second advantage, an entertaining battle was going on between Jordan and Browne who - in second and third respectively - were separated only by one-tenth of a second.

Meanwhile, Peter Hickman - who appeared to have potential mechanical issues on lap one - was dropping back in fourth and coming under pressure from Jamie Coward and Joe Yeardsley.

As the second and final lap headed towards Ballaugh, the gaps began to widen in certain areas across the board - Jordan and Browne in their battle for second were pulling nearly 20 seconds clear of Hickman in fourth whose times had stabilized to give him a healthy cushion from Coward and Yeardsley.

Now more than 25 seconds out front, Dunlop's record-breaking pace kept climbing as he moved into the region of 124mph lap speed onto the final run over the Mountain section.

Meanwhile, Browne had taken back control of second from Jordan at Ramsey, both remained more than 19 seconds clear of Hickman in fourth spot with Coward and Yeardsley beginning to cement their positions in fifth and sixth respectively.

As the leading riders on the road raced to the line, the first battle which came into view was the one to decide second between Browne and Jordan, and it was the former of those two - following a strong showing across the mountain section late on - who claimed second spot with Jordan settling for the final podium position just six-tenths of a second back.

After that, all eyes were on the stratospheric pace of Dunlop's MD Racing Paton who finished with an almighty flourish at 124.53mph to continue his current unbeaten streak in the class and move onto 36 TT wins.

Outside of the podium finishers, Hickman held on to secure fourth place ahead of Coward in fifth whilst local competitor, Joe Yeardsley came home sixth in what is a best ever finish at the TT to date for the Manxman.

The Sportbike TT Race 1 top ten is listed below:

1.) Michael Dunlop MBE 
2.) Mike Browne
3.) Paul Jordan
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4.) Peter Hickman
5.) Jamie Coward
6.) Joe Yeardsley
7.) Dominic Herbertson
8.) Barry Furber
9.) Michal Dokoupil
10.) Michael Sweeney