Dunlop takes NW200 Supersport and Superstock double

3 hours ago 3

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Michael Dunlop secured a win double in the Supersport and Superstock classes in Thursday night's racing at the North West 200.

The victories were the Northern Ireland rider's first at the event since 2016 and took his overall career tally of North West successes to seven.

Dunlop clinched a dramatic win in the opening Supersport race by blasting past eventual runner-up Richard Cooper on the run to Mather's Cross on the final lap and went on to win by a margin of just 0.378 seconds.

For the 36-year-old, it was only his second victory in the class at the North West, although he has dominated the middleweight category at the Isle of Man TT, where he has won a record 13 Supersport races.

The Northern Ireland rider was having his first outing at an international road race on a V2 Ducati, having previously campaigned Yamaha machinery in the category.

Dunlop set a new lap record on his final circuit at 118.65mph, with Davey Todd taking third behind Cooper, and Dean Harrison, Peter Hickman and Jamie Coward making up the top six leaderboard.

The top five had been involved in a thrilling battle throughout, with just tenths of a second separating them during the four-lap race.

Dunlop was fifth after lap one, fourth after the second lap and third after lap three, before making up ground and executing his decisive move.

"It's nice to win back in Northern Ireland, especially at international level," a delighted Dunlop told BBC Sport NI after the race.

"I got myself into the right place at the right time and thought that it was time to get my finger out.

"I really enjoyed it and knew I always had it in me to ride well here."

The Ballymoney man made light of suffering the after-effects of a spill in Superstock qualifying earlier on Thursday by occupying the top spot on the podium.

"I damaged the shoulder a wee bit and struggled to brake a bit. It's not 100% but I can't complain. I'll keep the head down."

Dunlop claimed his second win of the night by sealing his second NW200 Superstock triumph of his career.

The county Antrim man was back in fourth after the opening circuit, with polesitter Todd establishing a substantial advantage of 2.1 seconds over Ian Hutchinson and Harrison.

A second-lap charge by Dunlop moved him up to second, within 0.58 seconds of the leader, and by the end of lap three he led Harrison by 0.8 seconds.

The BMW rider had hit the front on the fast run to University as his rival Todd lost significant ground when he went straight on at the same section of the course.

Dunlop put in the fastest lap of the race on his final circuit for good measure, his speed of 124.392mph marginally outside Hickman's two-year-old Supersport benchmark.

"I've proved I'm still fast. I knew the Superstock race was going to be hot and heavy," Dunlop told BBC Sport NI afterwards.

"It's been a long time since I came here fully fit and after my spill earlier on Thursday I thought 'here we go again' but I've overcome it and won two races."

Harrison was second, Hutchinson finished third, Todd took fourth and Hickman fifth, his chances of a higher placing scuppered by going straight on at the Magherabuoy chicane on lap one.

1 Michael Dunlop (NI, Ducati)

2 Richard Cooper (Eng, Yamaha)

3 Davey Todd (Eng, Honda)

4 Dean Harrison (Eng, Honda)

5 Peter Hickman (Eng, Triumph)

6 Jamie Coward (Eng, Triumph)

7 Mike Browne (RoI, Yamaha)

8 Adam McLean (NI, Yamaha)

1 Michael Dunlop (NI, BMW)

2 Dean Harrison (Eng, Honda)

3 Ian Hutchinson (Eng, BMW)

4 Davey Todd (Eng, BMW)