Classic TT: Michael Dunlop's Lightweight victory on Clive Padgett's Honda RS250 'bit of a personal thing' after former association with late father Robert
Michael Dunlop said his victory in Sunday’s Lightweight race at the Classic TT on Clive Padgett’s Honda RS250 was “something special” after evoking memories of his father Robert’s association with the Batley-based team over three decades ago.
Road racing legend Robert teamed up with Padgett to ride 125cc and 250cc machinery in 1994 and clinched a victory in the 125cc race at the North West 200.
Sadly, he never had the chance to compete in the two-stroke races at the Isle of Man TT after Robert was seriously injured in a crash in the Formula One race through no fault of his own, when the rear wheel of his Medd Honda RC45 collapsed on the exit of Ballaugh village.
His injuries restricted him to the smallest capacity 125cc afterwards, denying him the opportunity of many more victories that would undoubtedly have come his way.
In Sunday’s Lightweight Classic TT race, Dunlop set the fastest lap at 119.081mph, which was some way off Bruce Anstey’s 2017 lap record for the class of 120.475mph, which is the first and only lap recorded by a 250cc machine around the Mountain Course.
However, Dunlop has the record in his sights and told team boss Padgett he had a 121mph goal in mind.
But with main rival Mike Browne retiring on the Laycock Racing TZ250 Yamaha, Dunlop simply had to bring the Honda home to win by more than three minutes from Republic of Ireland rider Michael Sweeney, who was riding a 250cc Yamaha.
“On that last lap, I just toured,” Dunlop told Manx Radio.
“I said, ‘Clive, I’m doing 121mph’, and he’s like ‘Michael, just go easy on it’!
“It’s something special, obviously before my Dad had his accident in ’94 here, he was actually riding for Clive on a 125 and 250.
“He won the North West but he never made the race for Clive [at the 1994 Isle of Man TT].
“It was a bit of a personal thing that I wanted to do with Clive and we’d always said we’d ride together.
“It’s easy saying this but the whole team, they’re old school and I love coming in and talking about old things, what they were doing going back.”
Dunlop admitted he struggled to find his groove early on after jumping off the Suzuki GSX-R750 and onto the smaller 250.
“The way the bike was going, I thought it was struggling but it wasn’t, it was me. I just wasn’t riding it properly after coming off the big bike,” he explained.
“There’s a lot more left there, the bike was singing and fair play to the Milenco by Padgett men.
“I’d like to thank Clive for the opportunity and it’s a big feather in my cap to win another one.
“I just thank the lads and weirdly enough I just wanted to win a 250 race this year, I don’t know what it was, it was just something about it, and we done it.”
It was Dunlop’s second successive Lightweight victory at the Classic TT after he won the race on his own MD Racing 250 Honda for the first time in 2025.