Southern 100: Davey Todd retains Solo Championship crown after hard-fought victory over Michael Dunlop
Davey Todd retained the Solo Championship title at the Southern 100 after a breathless battle with Michael Dunlop in the headline race on Thursday on the Isle of Man.
In fine conditions at Billown, Todd made a flying start and led Dunlop at Cross Four Ways on the first lap, with Jamie Coward (KTS Honda) and Dean Harrison in pursuit.
Todd had opened a 1.1s lead over the line from Dunlop, who was 0.6s ahead of Coward.
Harrison had fought his way past Coward to take third on his Honda Superstock machine by Cross Four Ways on lap two as Todd still held sway at the front on the Milwaukee BMW from Dunlop, who slashed the gap to 0.442s by the end of the lap.
Bradford man Harrison set a fastest speed of 115.209mph and was beginning to close on Dunlop in second, who remained four tenths down on Todd after three laps.
Harrison recorded another fastest lap of 115.352mph to close to within 0.474s of Dunlop after the fourth lap with Todd leading by 0.341s on the BMW M1000RR.
On lap five, Saltburn man Todd upped the ante on the with a speed of 115.640mph to pull a gap of 0.590s over Dunlop, who now had 0.8s in hand over Harrison.
Coward was fourth, 5.7s back, with Nathan Harrison holding fifth ahead of Rob Hodson.
Dunlop then posted the quickest lap at 116.046mph on the Hawk Racing Honda on the sixth lap but Todd still had a narrow advantage of 0.396s at the start of the seventh of nine laps.
At Cross Four Ways on the penultimate lap it was Todd who was still setting the pace from Dunlop, while Harrison was now losing ground in third.
Dunlop posted his quickest ever lap at the 4.25-mile Billown course and shattered the lap record for the Solo Championship race at 116.743mph, slashing the deficit to 0.334s as they started the final lap.
Todd, though, was still in front at Cross Four Ways but Dunlop made his move into Stadium to hit the front.
However, Todd hit back on the brakes into the final corner to snatch the lead as Dunlop ran wide.
The 28-year-old claimed his second Solo Championship after his victory in 2022 by 3.123s in the end from Dunlop, with Harrison 5.286s further behind in third.
Coward, Nathan Harrison and Dominic Herbertson rounded out the top six.