Isle of Man TT 2018 results: Michael Dunlop claims 16th win as Dean Harrison smashes lap record before retiring

Dunlop's victory in the RST Superbike race comes three days after his Tyco BW teammate Dan Kneen died during practice on the Isle of Man

Michael Dunlop secured his 16th victory at the Isle of Man TT after taking the spoils on his Tyco BMW in the RST Superbike race, but the opening event will be remembered as a case of what could have been for Dean Harrison after he smashed the existing lap record in an astonishing start, only to retire from the lead.

The Northern Irishman’s victory comes just three days after his teammate, Dan Kneen, suffered a fatal accident in Wednesday evening’s practice session, with Kneen’s father giving the Tyco crew his blessing for them to continue racing at the TT as it’s what his son would have wanted.

"I wanted to do something in Dan's memory. That win is for his family," Dunlop said after his victory.

"It's hard to celebrate this win - it's been a hard week."

Having topped qualifying in the week with an unofficial lap record, Harrison had put himself among the favourites to win the opening race – which was delayed by an hour due to mist on the island – with Dunlop also predicted by many to be in the running at the front along with the likes of Peter Hickman and Conor Cummins.

But in a race of high attrition, Hickman made it only to the end of lap one before retiring in the pits, while 16-time winner Ian Hutchinson retired midway through the race. Sadly, mechanical failure would also go on to rob fans of what looked to be a fascinating battle that was developing between Harrison and Dunlop.

Harrison looked to be cruising – if you can say that at such speeds – when he returned to the pits at the end of the second laps having set back-to-back times faster than Dunlop’s previous lap record, with his opening effort of 134.432mph from a standing start breaking all existing sector records as well as taking the outright record, while his second lap was just a shade over 134mph.

Having grown used to leading races in the early stages, Dunlop faced the tough ask of clawing back a deficit of more than 16 seconds, but the two saved in the pits quickly became four seconds by Glen Helen as he nipped away at the lead. By the time the third lap ended, Dunlop had brought the gap under 10 seconds, but it quickly became apparent that all was not well with Harrison’s Silicone Engineering Kawasaki ZX10-RR.

Harrison retired at Sulby Crossroads while leading the Superbike TT (www.iomtt.com)

By the time Dunlop reached the Ramsey hairpin on the fourth lap, Harrison was nowhere to be seen and it was soon confirmed that he had retired at the Sulby Crossroads. That meant that Dunlop arrived for his second and final pit stop at the end of the lap with a huge 40-second advantage over Conor Cummins that was quickly stretched to over 52 seconds once the Padgetts Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR emerged from the pits.

Despite Cummins’ poor stop, he still held a strong advantage over the Kawasaki of James Hillier, and with the trio more than half a minute ahead of the rest of the pack they promptly settled into a rhythm that enabled Dunlop to cruise home for his 16th victory at the TT, moving alongside sidecar legend Dave Molyneux and just nine behind all-time leading winner and his uncle Joey Dunlop.

Cummins moved up to second following Harrison's retirement (www.iomtt.com)

David Johnson rode a rather lonely race on his BMW to secure fourth, with Michael Rutter just holding off Honda Racing’s Lee Johnston for fifth.

Results

1. Michael Dunlop (BMW) 1:44:13.398

2. Conor Cummins (Honda) + 50.861s

3. James Hillier (Kawasaki) +1:12.521mins

4. David Johnson (BMW) +1:45.239mins

5. Michael Rutter (BMW) +3:13.976mins

6. Lee Johnston (Honda) +3:38.616mins

7. Martin Jessopp (BMW)+3:51.500mins

8. Ivan Linton (Kawasaki) +3:53.619mins

9. Phillip Crowe (BMW) +3:58.703mins

10. Josh Brookes (Norton) +4:00.878mins