For the second year in a row Michael Dunlop has won four races at the Isle of Man, but this time it included the big one – the Senior TT. Dunlop worked his way back from seventh to take the lead and keep his BMW up front, finishing some 14 seconds ahead of Honda Racing’s Conor Cummins and Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin. The win also marked Dunlop’s 11th career TT win, which puts him with the likes of Steve Hislop and Phillip McCallen in the Isle of Man TT history books.
“I remember my dad saying that Steve [Hislop] was the best he’d ever seen around here,” Dunlop said in the post race press conference. “My dad said it was just something special and to have the same manufacturer as him [Hislop] it’s just fantastic.”
But while victory was sweet, it was a bit subdued for the younger Dunlop as his brother William had crashed out at Les Graham Memorial on the third lap and was airlifted to Nobles Hospital with a suspected broken leg.
“At the end of the day I don’t care what anybody says,” Dunlop said. “You see a mess on the side of the road like that, the first thing on my mind – I don’t give a shit about racing. That’s the long and the short of it. As long as he’s all right that’s main concern at the minute. I spoke to William’s girlfriend… He’s conscious. He’s awake. And he’s all right. Just a suspected broken leg, but he’s going to be alright which is the main thing for me.”
And at the end of the day Dunlop was happy to win a race that he lost to John McGuiness last year. The most important one.
“I done my bit for BMW at the start of the week this was a personal goal for me. And I wanted to win the Superbike race [Senior TT] and when I’m home last year, when John [McGuiness] had beat me last year and said this was the main race to win. That’s why I wanted to get it.”
Cummins and Martin settled into their second and third positions, respectively by lap three. Dunlop lost a bit of time to Cummins in the pits, but still managed to hold a 9.5 second lead on Cummins.
On the penultimate lap, Dunlop’s lead dropped to seven seconds on Cummins at Glen Helen as they encountered traffic – James Hillier, McGuiness and Martin. But Dunlop got past the four of them and stretched a comfortable lead to take the win.
Valvoline Racing/Padgetts Honda’s Bruce Antsey and Quattro Plant Muc-Off Kawasaki’s Hillier battled all the way to the checkered flag for fourth, with Anstey taking the honors and Hillier settling for fifth. Honda Racing’s McGuiness soldiered on with a wrist injury he’s been battling all week to finish sixth ahead of Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes. And rounding out the top 10 was Dan Kneen, Michael Rutter, and David Johnson.
The first privateer was Peter Hickman in 11th and he set the record for the fastest lap by a first timer at 129.104 mph.
2014 Isle of Man
Senior TT Results
1. Michael Dunlop (BMW)
2. Conor Cummins (Honda)
3. Guy Martin (Suzuki)
4. Bruce Antsey (Honda)
5. James Hillier (Kawasaki)
6. John McGuiness (Honda)
7. Josh Brookes (Yamaha)
8. Dan Kneen (Suzuki)
9. Michael Rutter (BMW)
10. David Johnson (Kawasaki)
