TT 2016: Dunlop disqualified from Supersport result
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08/06/2016
Michael Dunlop was sensationally disqualified from his hard-earned second place in the Monster Energy Supersport was following post race technical examination this afternoon
The decision was announced some three and a half hours after the race in a statement from ACU Events Limited: “Michael Dunlop has been excluded from the results for a technical infringement identified during post race examination. ACU Events Ltd do not believe that there was a deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage and no significant performance advantage was gained.”
That decision moved Dean Harrison into second place and James Hillier third.
Mar-Train racing, who supplied Dunlop’s engine, have taken full responsibility for the illegality which was a set of coated cam buckets which had been legal two years ago when the engine was originally built. This has been a spare engine and as such was fully refreshed to again be our spare engine for the 2016 TT.
“An oversight due in part to personnel changes in the team as well as a change in engine builder has meant that this obvious irregularity was missed. Our crew-chief, mistakenly assumed that this engine had seen use in 2015 and that it would be in compliance with the rules. Our engine builder, subsequently, and in good faith, refreshed and prepared the engine as he received it,” said a statement.
Shane Wogan, of Wogan Performance, added: “We replaced all known components associated with wear and tear, known as an engine refresh, however regretfully overlooked the specifications of the Cam buckets as they were not a component that would have suffered from this wear and tear. We are devastated that Michael Dunlop and the MD Racing team have been disqualified over an issue that we as a business completely overlooked. We would like to apologies to Mar-Train Racing, Michael, MD Racing and the technical inspectors for the inconvenience we have caused.”
Rob Hodson who finished the race in fourteenth place was also disqualified from the race having been found to have been running a significantly oversized engine.
