Dunlop dominated the opening match of Supersport at TT 2023

news7g06/03/2023

0 4 minutes read

Dunlop dominated the opening match of Supersport at TT 2023

Isle of Man TT 2023
Supersport TT Race One

With Ben McCook

Michael Dunlop won the opening match of Monster Energy Supersport TT. Ballymoney’s man dominated the opposition, comfortably bringing his MD racing YZF-R6 home 12 seconds ahead of Peter Hickman. Hickman just overtook Dean Harrison for second place in his Trooper Victory after a tense final battle between the two. Deano was in second place throughout the race all the way to the final season and it would be a bitter pill for the Bradford man to swallow, to be pushed down the order in such a way. Dunlop currently has 22 wins, just one behind John McGuinness on the all-time chart.

The day was off to a slow start due to delays caused by a fatal road accident at Milestone 33 that occurred just as the Mountain Road was closing. Usually the delay is due to bad weather but today the island was bathed in bright sunshine with blue skies. The idyllic setting meant perfect conditions for racing and luckily around lunchtime we were back to work and the action on the track started.

This middleweight class has traditionally provided tight and unpredictable races, so when the leaders hit Glen Helen in the first round and Dean Harrison led Dunlop by half a second; Looks like we’ve got a proper contest on our hands…

However, by Ballaugh (2nd check) Michael was two seconds ahead of Harrison and from then on, Dunlop extended the rest of the field to show his dominance. ‘The Bull’ consistently outstripped machine 2, comfortably controlling speed after creating a nice little buffer of just over ten seconds. Sometimes the distance fluctuated but never significantly decreased and when Harrison passed Bungalow in the second round, Dunlop was above Verandah… he was almost in his opponent’s line of sight.

It’s exciting that maybe the lap record will continue on that second lap and indeed, every check of the area tells us that’s the speed Micky D is running at… but the racers have to slow down. speed on that second lap for refueling and speed off a bit; it was finally 129.1 mph when the clock stopped.

There was a bit of anxiety for the race winner as he lost a few seconds at the mid-race stop, but by Glen Helen in the third round, the gap to Harrison settled and it was time for his 22nd win. Dunlop seems to be a foregone conclusion.

But there is still drama to come… there are reports of ducks on the track in Milltown at the end of the lap and Harrison will report a bird collision at the end of the race, he claims ‘it’s like it’ like a Zoo out there’.

As the leads yelled at 180 mph to start their final lap, Hickman was suddenly announced to have caught Harrison. ‘Hickman is coming’ Chris Boyd cried in the comments and the race for second place is now at the heart of those races.

Hickman posted the fastest Supersport zone time of the week between Glen Helen and Ballaugh; he took only 3m10 seconds and that put him behind his opponent by two seconds. To the Bungalow, the distance is a tenth of a second and it’s all about decency from the mountain.

During his final landing at Douglas, Harrison is said to have waved at the helicopter – something that could have cost him, as when Hickman crossed the line, he managed to pull a three-second gap. against Harrison and BPE Russell Yamaha was pushed back to third. You can’t help but wonder if he would have challenged the race winner if he had reached such speeds in the first half of the race.

But it was all about Dunlop, who negotiated the final lap smoothly to receive applause and go home 11 seconds ahead of Hickman.

“Yes, it was a good race, I dropped a lot in the last two laps… I feel really good, the bike is good too… I am very happy. It’s good to see that there’s still a bit of speed in the old doll… the little bike is still winning.”

When pressed for a record total of wins looming in front of him, McGuinness and Joey Dunlop said, “I don’t know, I just keep cycling and whatever happens, happens. When you win races around here and it’s on bikes you build… it’s a little more exciting. The boys worked hard all week to make this happen and that’s another thing.”

Tomorrow we will see SBK TT follow the tradition of always being ‘Mad Sunday’. It will be the race everyone has been waiting for, where Dunlop, Hickman and Harrison go head-to-head on large displacement bikes. With perfect conditions predicted, the full lap record is expected to be officially announced and whoever wins the six lap lap will have to ride the track harder than ever. to complete the job. Today’s tasters will whet the appetite and enthusiasts will have a hard time sleeping tonight, it’s predicted. It will be an absolute belt.