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Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Isle of Man TT results: Michael Dunlop savours 'tough' Supersport win

Michael Dunlop insists he didn't have any time to relax during Saturday's dominant Monster Energy Supersport TT win.

The Ballymoney rider was a class apart on his MD Racing Yamaha as he made it TT victory number 22.

It is also the 53rd success on the island for the famous Dunlop racing dynasty, with his Uncle Joey still the outright record holder with 26 wins.

Read more: Isle of Man TT live updates from Saturday's opening race day

Michael finished 12.1 seconds ahead of Peter Hickman in Saturday's Supersports. At one stage he held a 17-second lead over his rivals.

Dean Harrison was a long-time holder of second spot until Hickman pipped him on the final lap by just 0.394 seconds.

Dunlop smiled: "You never get to enjoy it, no matter what lead you have. I am always listening (to the bike) and I always hear wee things going on.

"You always hear something, so you don't have time to breathe let alone relax."

He added: "It was tough going. I knew the boys would get hot and heavy there.

"I felt good. I haven't done many laps on the 600 which is not normal. I just seemed to be doing more on the big bike.

"We had a bit of an issue last night after the warm-up, and we had a wee bit of work on our hands. But we got the engine sorted again and she is flying.

"All the boys did great work. And we got the bike where we wanted to be."

Dunlop is now just one win away from John McGuinness (23) and could draw level with the Morecambe rider on Sunday in the RST Superbike race.

Meanwhile, Tom and Ben Birchall posted a new lap record to clinch a superb victory in the 3wheeling.media Sidecar TT.

Their new lap record of 120.357mph saw them cruise to a dominant 24-second win over Peter Founds/Jevan Walmsley, while John Holden and Maxime Vasseur earn the final podium spot, finishing 3.5 seconds ahead of Steve Ramsden and Mathew Ramsden.

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