Retro Rewind: Special day for the Dunlops with Superbike domination at North West 200

Held in damp conditions, William – riding the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 – led for much of the race after passing early pacesetter Ian Hutchinson on the Milwaukee Yamaha and opening up a gap of four seconds by the fourth lap.

However, his younger brother Michael was beginning to make up time after a poor start and had soon surged through to second place after passing Manxman Conor Cummins.

Dunlop was determined to make a winning start to the international road racing season after signing a deal to ride a BMW S1000RR for the first time following his split from the Honda TT Legends team.

With clear track in front of him, he began to eat into William’s lead and had closed onto his brother’s rear wheel by at Ballysally on the fifth and final lap.

A grandstand finish was in store as the Northern Ireland fans were treated to a mouth-watering Dunlop showdown for supremacy on the all-important run along the Coast Road.

Michael hit the front for the first time on the BMW at Metropole in Portrush and seemed to have timed his move to perfection.

However, William refused to go down without a fight and battled back at the Juniper chicane, re-taking the lead on the brakes.

There was nothing between the Ballymoney brothers as they powered out of the chicane and began the climb towards Quarry Hill.

Michael had a look on the inside of the Suzuki as they approached the start/finish chicane, but William had the line covered and held on to win by just half-a-second as the packed grandstands roared their approval.

Cummins (Honda Racing) was third, followed by Michael Rutter (Bathams BMW), Hutchinson (Milwaukee Yamaha), Simon Andrews (RAF Reserves Honda) and Gary Johnson (Lincs Lifting Honda), with Josh Brookes finishing eighth on the Milwaukee Yamaha.

A delighted Dunlop said: “It’s my first big international Superbike win and I’m rated as a 600 rider so it was good to get that.

“The bike was really good on the brakes but the tyre started to go off, but if you want to win you’ve got to ride through it and I’m glad it wasn’t seven laps because it wouldn’t have lasted.”

Runner-up Michael said a poor start had cost him dear in his pursuit of a debut victory on the BMW.

“I made a bad start and that’s the way it goes,” he said.

“William put his knee in me and I didn’t appreciate it, but you’ve got to go for it. Don’t worry, I’ll get it the next time.”

True to his word, Dunlop made amends as he won the Superstock and feature NW200 Superbike races to earn the ‘man of the meeting’ award.

He prevailed in the feature race – cut to five laps from seven – by three seconds from Aussie Josh Brookes, who set a new lap record at 122.958mph on the final lap.

Alastair Seeley completed the top three on the Mar-Train Racing Kawasaki, 4.695s behind.

Dunlop said: “I knew I could do it. In my head I was thinking ‘alright, let's have it lads’. The BMW is just beautiful to ride, it's class and I love it. These are brand new bikes, I only saw the Superbike for the first time on Tuesday.

“The bike is fantastic, the Metzeler tyres were working a dream at the end of that race and we were right on the pace off the line,” he added.

“I'm so happy to have won two races – the main Superbike race was the one to win. Getting the ‘Robert Dunlop Man of the Meeting’ award is the icing on the cake. At the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘It's my dad's trophy, I want it, and I got it.

“I can't say enough good stuff about the motorbike and the team.”

It was Dunlop’s fourth victory at the North West and set him up perfectly for the Isle of Man TT, where he famously won the Senior to give BMW their first win in the prestigious race since Georg Meier in 1939.

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