Duke Road Race Rankings chase hots up as TT winner Dunlop boosts score
Isle of Man TT winner Michael Dunlop has seen his Duke Road Race Rankings score rocket after the latest rounds of the season.
The Ballymoney man took five wins at last week’s Southern 100, including the Solo Championship title, and a double at the Race of the South meeting at Walderstown at the weekend.
The success has seen his points total climb from 732 to 1,257 over two meetings, helping close the gap on runaway leader Ryan Farquhar.
The Southern 100 also proved a boost for Farquhar’s KMR Kawasaki teammate Jamie Hamilton, one of the stars of the 2012 Isle of Man TT, who shot up six places to third overall, but, despite a SuperTwin win, dropped to fourth after Walderstown thanks to a resurgent William Dunlop.
William was forced to miss the Southern 100 due to injury sustained at Skerries, but scored a double on his return at County Westmeath, restoring him to third place in the Duke Rankings.
TT favourite Ivan Lintin moved up six to fifth after the Southern, a spot he retains after Waderstown.
John Burrows is back up to sixth, moving up three after the latest races. The top 10 is completed by Jamie Coward, John McGuinness, Chris Palmer and Derek Sheils.
Michae; Dunlop ended his stellar 2012 Southern 100 meeting with five wins from five starts, plus a new lap record of 113.584mph.
The 23-year-old also established a new race record on his Hunts Motorcycles/McAdoo Honda Fireblade in a time of 20m 36.803s, an average speed for the nine-lap event of 111.335mph.
He said:
“I entered five races and won five races. People talk about five-timers back home, but that’s a real five-timer.”
“It was hard work but great racing and the bike was awesome.”
“Thanks to everyone, all the boys who helped me and the team and Winston [McAdoo].”
Dunlop, who retained the Championship title from 2011, added:
“It’s another Superbike win and I wanted to retain my title. That’s what I set out to do and I was in the zone.”
“We’re definitely living the dream now.”
At the Walderstown Race of the South Road Races, he added victories in the Open Championship Race and the feature Final to his tally.
His brother William, racing for Wilson Craig Honda, bounced back taking the Supersport and 125cc races at Walderstown.