Dunlop seals 28th TT win in second supersport race

Ballymoney man takes sixth consecutive win in the class

Michael Dunlop has secured a 28th TT win and hat-trick of victories at this year's TT by taking top spot in today's Supersport TT Race 2.

The Ballymoney man stretched the all-time wins record, holding off a competitive ride from Dean Harrison who secured second with Davey Todd claiming third.

What's more, it's a sixth consecutive win in the class for Dunlop who's unbeaten on the mountain course on Supersport machinery since 2019.

Due to sporadic weather conditions during the morning, riders began setting off on the shortened two-lap race two-and-a-half hours after the previously scheduled start time.

In the opening miles of the contest, Dunlop set the early pace at Glen Helen on the MD Racing Yamaha with Todd in second followed by a positive start for James Hillier in third.

By Ballaugh, however, Dean Harrison had found some extra pace to overhaul Hillier and move into the top three.

On the first run over the mountain coming out of Ramsey, whilst the leading three was unchanged the gaps between them were marginally opening as Peter Hickman and Jamie Coward were starting to reel in Hillier in fourth.

Whilst Dunlop maintained the lead heading out onto the second and flying lap of the race, Harrison was closing in as he moved ahead of Todd into second and to within one second of Dunlop out front.

Elsewhere, Hickman and Coward had been promoted into fourth and fifth respectively after successfully catching the pace of Hillier over the mountain section.

By the time the frontrunners had reached Ballaugh on lap two, however, Dunlop had put the hammer down to stretch his lead over Harrison to 3.2 seconds with Todd remaining firmly in contention just 1.4 seconds further back.

Those front three had opened up a clearer advantage those outside the podium spots come Ramsey as Hickman slotted into fourth but nearly nine seconds off the pace of Todd.

The change in the battle for fourth the came just a few miles later as Coward found the extra pace to pass Hickman in the timing sheets at the Bungalow.

Back out front - as his been the case in this class for the last three years - despite the best efforts of those behind, there was nothing to stop Dunlop on his charge over the mountain as he would yet again take the checquered flag at the top of the pile and extend the all-time TT wins record to 28.