TT 2017: Michael Dunlop blasts to Supersport race one win

Full report below from BSN

Ballymoney’s Michael Dunlop scorched to a 13s win in today’s first Monster Supersport race, taking the chequered flag ahead of James Hillier with Peter Hickman taking his second podium in a row after his runner-up spot in the Superbike race.

However, mutiple Supersport winner Ian Hutchinson had a shocker on the 2017 McAMS Yamaha and could only finish in fifth place, losing 20s to Dunlop over the final lap with a 124.101mph lap compared to Dunlop’s 126.543.

Dunlop is now equal with Mike Hailwood on 14 wins and is now just one behind fierce rival Hutchinson on the all-time winners list.

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Hillier was fastest out of the blocks, leading William Dunlop at Glen Helen with Michael Dunlop, Gary Johnson and Dean Harrison all covered by less than two seconds.

Michael leapt into second place at Ballaugh, closing Hillier down to less than half a second. The Bournemouth man passed Bruce Anstey to lead on the road before Ramsey and the gap remained at half a second at the end of lap one as Ian Hutchinson crept into sixth place.

At Glen Helen on lap two, Dunlop had stolen the lead by 1.884s from Hillier with William Dunlop third, 5.430s back with Johnson, Hutchinson and now Peter Hickman in sixth as Dean Harrison retired at Ballacraine.

Hickman leapfrogged both Hutchison and Johnson for fourth place at Ramsey after Johnson had a slow sector from Ballaugh Bridge.

Dunlop slowly pulled out his lead over Hillier and with a 126.015mph lap into the first pitstop, it was 2.493s at the end of lap two at the pits. Hillier put in a 125.678 with the rest in the 124mph bracket.

A good stop from the JG boys saw Hillier claw the gap back to 1.887s at Glen Helen as Dan Kneen received a penalty for speeding in the pitlane to add to the one he got yesterday and that dropped him from sixth down to 12th.

Michael really put the hammer down on lap three, increasing his lead to a little over six seconds at Ramsey while Hickman passed William Dunlop for third place on the run to the Bungalow and at the Grandstand his advantage was more than three seconds.

On the final lap, Michael was three seconds faster than Hillier to Glen Helen and the Kawasaki man said he wasn’t going to ride outside his comfort zone. As Hutchinson went backwards in terms of time, Hickman chopped his deficit to Hillier from 20s at Glen Helen to 12s at the Grandstand with a fastest lap of the race of 126.756 on the Trooper Beer Triumph.

William Dunlop ended in fourth place with Hutchinson fifth and Johnson sixth. Anstey ended in seventh while Kneen came back to eighth. Conor Cummins finished in ninth with Jamie Cowton tenth.

Josh Brookes took the Jackson Honda to 11th with a 123.099mph lap - his best so far on the 600cc - with Martin Jessopp, Ivan Lintin, Craig Neve and Andrew Dudgeon rounding out the top 15.

Image source: Impact Images