Battle for the 2011 Duke Road Race Rankings series hots up
Wednesday 17 August 2011
TT
The battle for the Duke Road Race Rankings victory is hotting up as the Dunlop brothers close in on Ryan Farquhar, who had been the runaway leader for most of the season.
Recent struggles for Dungannon’s Farquhar coupled with success for Michael and William Dunlop – most recently at the Ulster Grand Prix on Saturday – has seen the gap at the top slashed.
Michael, who moved up three places after the Ulster, is now just 469 points behind Farquhar, with brother William just 59 points further back in third.
With only five rounds of 24-event schedule left to run, Farquhar could face a tough competition to retain the Duke Road Race Rankings titled he claimed by more than 2,000 points last year.
He had been hoping to claim the series win for the sixth time – the fourth time in a row - but the hard-charging Dunlop brothers seem keen to get their name on the Geoff Duke Trophy alongside Farquhar, Ian Lougher and Conor Cummins.
Michael Dunlop moved up the rankings after becoming the hat-trick hero on his Street Sweep machines at the Ulster GP, round 19 of the 2011Duke Road Race Rankings.
He won the opening Superstock race and then the two thrilling Supersport races, his first ever victories around the 7.4-mile Dundrod circuit, and the first treble by a member of the Dunlop family since 1995.
The 23-year old Ballymoney rider said:
“I came here this morning with no wins and I am going home with three.”
It wasn’t all bad for Farquhar; victory in the Supertwin race meant his hopes of retaining the trophy remain strong.
Padgetts Honda rider Bruce Anstey - who won a sensational Suberbike race from Guy Martin to equal the seven race wins of greats like Giacomo Agostini, Stanley Woods, Mike Hailwood and Ray McCullough - was the highest climber in the latest rankings, up 19 places to 16th.
Martin, on the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing, got his revenge in the second Superbike race with a lights-to-flag victory, 3 seconds clear of Keith Amor and William Dunlop.
That moved him up two places to 6th in the rankings, and took his points tally so far to more than 1,000.
Ian Lougher held on to 5th place with a win in the 250GP race ahead of Denver Robb and Jamie Coward.
The Munster 100, on August 21, is the next scheduled event for the Duke Road Race Rankings.