Sport

Isle of Man TT: Michael Dunlop becomes the most successful TT rider of all time, breaking Joey Dunlop’s record to become ‘King of the Mountian’

The ‘Raging Bull’ from Ballymoney wins the Supertwin race by 20 seconds to overtake his late uncle in terms of TT wins, now sitting on 27

Michael Dunlop sitting with a laurel wreath around his neck and the Metzeler Supertwin trophy in his hand, under him is a sign that says 27
Michael Dunlop celebrates winning his 27th TT in the Supertwins race on the Isle of Man today to become the event's most successful rider, overtaking his uncle Joey Dunlop. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON (stephen davison)
By Liam Grimley

HISTORY was made on the Isle of Man as Michael Dunlop overtook ‘the King of the Roads’ Joey Dunlop in terms of TT wins and became the undisputed ‘King of the Mountain’.

Michael’s 27th TT win came in Wednesday’s Supertwin race in emphatic style as he led from start to finish, beating second-place Peter Hickman by 20 seconds in the end.

He won the race on a Paton 650 2024 S1-R machine, averaging 120.717mph across the three laps.

Dunlop won his first TT back in 2007, setting him off on a winning streak that would lead to him being considered one of the greatest road racers of all time.

Michael overtakes his uncle Joey, who rode his first TT in 1976 and made the trip to the Isle of Man almost every year until his death in 2000, winning three TT races that year to leave his total at 26 before he died in a road race in Tallinn, Estonia.

Michael was presented with the opportunity to break uncle Joey’s record on Sunday during the Superbike race but a visor issue cost him nearly a minute and led to him finishing fourth.

However, he was able to correct the record and take his place at the top of the leaderboard and cement his place in TT and road racing history.

Michael Dunlop sitting with a laurel wreath around his neck and the Metzeler Supertwin trophy in his hand, under him is a sign that says 27
Michael Dunlop celebrates winning his 27th TT in the Supertwins race on the Isle of Man today to become the event's most successful rider, overtaking his uncle Joey Dunlop. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON (stephen davison)

Dominic Herbertson claimed a first-ever podium at the Isle of Man TT when he finished in third place on the Burrows Engineering Paton, fighting off Jamie Coward, who finished off strong and narrowly missed out on a podium, to come home 14.394 seconds down on Hickman on the Swan Yamaha.

Speaking to Radio TT after the race, Dunlop said: “It’s an honour, but I’m no better than Joey. We should have had this on Sunday as we were comfortable, but things out of our control denied us.”

Michael Dunlop spraying a bottle of champagne after winning his 27th TT race
Michael Dunlop celebrates winning his 27th TT in the Supertwins race on the Isle of Man today to become the event's most successful rider. PICTURE: STEPHEN DAVISON (stephen davison)

It seemed that a lot of the racers today were just happy to see Dunlop win and be a part of history in the making.

Second-placed Hickman said: “He said: ‘I’m a TT fan foremost, so to be even in the same race as Michael as he achieves that is something extra special.”

It seemed that the road racing gods wanted to give the riders the rest of the day off to celebrate as due to heavy rainfall and standing water around the course, the Clerk of The Course confirmed that the next race was to be cancelled.