Michael Dunlop says North West 200 and Isle of Man TT results should have been 'even better' in 2023

Dunlop surpassed 23-time winner John McGuinness in the hall of fame, with the 34-year-old increasing his tally to 25 following wins in the Superbike, Supersport and Supertwin classes.

The Ulster rider silenced his doubters after breaking the 135mph barrier and beating Peter Hickman to win the six-lap Superbike TT on the Hawk Racing Honda.

He also recorded the first 130mph Supersport lap, winning both races on his 600cc MD Racing Yamaha, and claimed a Supertwin success on the Italian Paton.

At the North West 200, Dunlop twice finished on the rostrum in the Superstock races while the home hero dominated at Armoy in July on his return to the event after a year’s absence, sweeping the board with five victories.

The Ballymoney man – also a Supertwin winner at the Cookstown 100 for local team McAdoo Kawasaki – was injury-free last season for the first time in several years.

Fighting fit and determined to get ‘back to where we belong’, it was a year to remember for Dunlop, but he says he felt he could have achieved more at the North West 200 and TT.

Dunlop, who collected the Greenlight Television King of the Roads trophy and Bayview Hotel Team of the Year accolade at the Adelaide Irish Motorbike Awards in Belfast on Friday, said: “It’s been a good year but it’s a bit disappointing because I felt the TT could have been better.

“I was disappointed with the North West as well because I felt we could have been better than what we were and there was more in us.

“The last Superbike race at the TT (Senior) was nobody’s fault but my own, so I was a bit disappointed for Stuart (Hicken, Hawk Racing team owner), but all in all the year’s been steady and we’ve put ourselves back in a position where we should be.

“We should be even better than that but the whole team pushed hard.”

Dunlop was back to his best in the premier Superbike class last year on the Hawk Honda Fireblade but he has yet to confirm his plans for 2024, when he has been linked with a switch back to BMW machinery.

As he received the Team of the Year award with his trusted team around him – including Stuart Hicken of Hawk Racing – he said he ‘hoped they stay with me’ for some time to come.

“The lads work hard and they have their own jobs, but they come along with me at the weekends to go road racing,” Dunlop said.

“We build our own bikes in the workshop and we’ve built something special.

“Stuart and Steve (Hicken) got me back to where I should be after a lot of people wrote me off on a Superbike but Stuart spend his own money to make it work and he’s one of very few people who’ll spend his own hard-earned cash.

“We worked so hard to get to this point and Gary (Ryan) has been with me for 14 years. We put so much into the season and I think we did a real good job,” he added.

“We’ve always tried to be better than the rest with a small budget and I hope they stay with me because I think we’ve got something good.

“I don’t know what this year is going to bring. Stuart’s trying to run the job out of his own pocket but we’ll keep pushing and go again.

“I can’t ask any more of them and they do everything they can. We’ve grown grey together and they put their time in.”