Classic TT: Senior race winner Michael Dunlop reveals 'we got protested... we had to strip the motor' after victory on Team Classic Suzuki
Senior Classic TT race winner Michael Dunlop said he was “nervous for a lap or two” after his Team Classic Suzuki developed an issue, and revealed a protest had been lodged following his record-breaking Formula One victory on Sunday.
Dunlop wrapped up a hat-trick with a comfortable win in the Senior finale on Tuesday, with Jamie Coward and Nathan Harrison completing then top three.
He set a blistering new lap record of 129.078mph in Sunday’s Formula One race on the Team Classic Suzuki GSX-R750 SRAD, shattering New Zealand great Bruce Anstey’s 2017 benchmark of 127.496mph, which the Kiwi achieved on a Padgett’s Yamaha RZR500 GP racer.
Dunlop, whose best lap in the Senior Classic TT was 128.596mph, said: “I was nervous for a lap or two there, we’ve got a bit of a leak.
“We were protested the other day so they made us strip the engine, then obviously with the races being so close together we just had to scramble together again and we’ve obviously had a wee leak somewhere.
“We spent the race slipping off the pegs, but apart from that it’s not anybody’s fault apart from the protest, we had to strip the motor.
“It was windy a bit and to be honest, the issue I had I kept spinning up a lot. I thought I’d be better just… once I got the boys in sight I just didn’t go any harder and sort of nursed [the bike home].
“Thanks to the boys, the bike’s been mint all week, so it’s nice to come back here and win more races,” the Ballymoney man told Manx Radio.
“I kept her steady and the bike’s good, thanks to Steve [Wheatman] again, it’s a mint job and to come back and do the double for them, I’m happy enough.”
Dunlop’s hat-trick included victory in the Lightweight race as part of a Sunday double, when he won on the Milenco by Padgett’s Honda RS250 and lapped at 119.081mph.