Southern 100: Dunlop bags double at Billown

Michael Dunlop prevails to win the Senior race at the Southern 100 following a gripping race-long tussle with Manx rider Dan Kneen to bag a double on the Bennetts Suzuki.

Road Racing desk_1

13 Jul 2017

Michael Dunlop made it two wins from two as he once again denied Dan Kneen by the slimmest of margins at the Southern 100.

Reigning Solo champion Dunlop and Manx rider Kneen went head to head around the 4.25-mile Billown course in the Ellan Vannin Fuels Senior race in a repeat of their battle from Tuesday's opening Corlett's Trophies 600/1000 showdown.

The lap record for the race was shattered by Dunlop on the Bennetts Suzuki on the seventh and final lap, who clocked 114.173mph in his efforts to keep Kneen at bay.

Dunlop clinched the victory on the GSX-R1000 by 0.184s, with Kneen right in his wheel-tracks on the DTR BMW. Ulsterman Dunlop also set a new race record with an average speed of 112.925mph.

Jamie Coward was some 16 seconds behind as he secured a fine podium for his locally-based Radcliffe's Butchers team on his BMW, while James Cowton (McAdoo Kawasaki) narrowly held off Ivan Lintin on the Dafabet RC Express Kawasaki as they completed the first five.

Meanwhile, Dean Harrison came out on top to as the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki rider won a record-breaking Supersport race on Wednesday evening.

Harrison was pushed all the way by Cowton on the McAdoo Kawasaki and Michael Dunlop on his MD Racing Yamaha.

The Bradford rider raised the lap record to 110.782mph on a blistering last lap as he held off Cowton by 0.7s, with Dunlop only a further tenth behind on his R6 in a breath-taking race held in glorious conditions on the Isle of Man. Harrison was also credited with a new race record of 108.624mph.

In the opening Supertwins race, Lincolnshire's Ivan Lintin took the honours by three tenths from James Cowton, who set a new lap record of 104.718mph on his 650cc Kawasaki.

Isle of Man TT winners Ben and Tom Birchall won the first Sidecar race by 5.3s from John Holden and Lee Cain. A new lap record of 100.751mph was achieved by Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes, who failed to finish.

Thursday hosts the final day of the 'Friendly Races' and features the prestigious Solo and Sidecar Championship events.