Michael reigns on day of triumph and tragedy
Dunlop joy short-lived after Lyon suffers fatal TT crash
TRIUMPH and tragedy go hand-inhand at the TT and record-breaking racing and sorrow once again hit the headlines yesterday.
Michael Dunlop scored his 17th TT win in the Monster Energy four-lap Supersport race, setting a new class lap record of 129.197mph on his second lap and taking a 10.2 second win over Dean Harrison.
However, the joy was shortlived when it was announced by organisers that 26-year-old Adam Lyon (below), from Helensburgh in Scotland, had suffered a fatal accident on lap three just after the 28th Milestone at Casey’s while riding his Team Lyon Racing R6Yamaha.
After crossing the finish line in third,
Peter Hickman said that the leading riders “had seen an accident while completing our fourth and final lap, although we were unsure of the severity of the crash”.
Lyon, a newcomer to the TT, set a speed of 123.443mph in Friday’s qualifying and had managed 122.636mph on his opening lap of the Supersport race. He had been lying in 17th at the end of lap two prior to his accident.
He had previously raced in Northern Ireland, finishing 11th in the second Supersport race during the Ulster Grand Prix last year and he was 11th in the Supersport ‘A’ race at the recent Cookstown 100.
Lyon also scored podium positions in the 2010 Pirelli National Superstock 600cc class at Croft and Silverstone. Deepest sympathy is extended to his family and friends from the motorcycling community.
MICHAEL Dunlop (MD Racing Honda) scored a record-breaking victory in yesterday morning’s Monster Energy four-lap Supersport race when he came home 10.2 seconds clear of Dean Harrison (Silicone Kawasaki).
On the second lap, Dunlop scorched around the 37-mile Mountain Circuit in 17 minutes and 31.328 seconds to shatter his own five-year-old lap record by over four seconds with a speed of 129.197mph.
Just like in Saturday’s TT Superbike race, Harrison set off like a greyhound out of the traps to lead through the first timing point at Glen Helen by a second from Dunlop, James Hillier, Peter Hickman, Gary Johnson and Lee Johnston.
By Ballaugh Bridge, Dunlop had clawed the deficit back to 0.2 seconds, and by Ramsey Hairpin he had wrestled the lead from Harrison by a second, with Hillier a further eight seconds adrift in third and Hickman still in fourth, a mere fraction of a second ahead of local star Conor Cummins and Johnson.
As they blasted past the packed Grandstand and out onto lap two, Dunlop’s speed was 128.265mph, just shy of the record, but he was 1.7 seconds ahead of Harrison, with Hickman and the Trooper Beer by Smiths Triumph taking third and pushing Hillier back to fourth.
In what was turning into a two-horse race between Dunlop and Harrison, the pair were now over 14 seconds clear of Hickman.
As they pitted for their only fuel stop of the race, it was announced that 29-year-old Ballymoney rider Dunlop had clocked 129.197mph for a stunning new lap record, giving him a healthy 6.4 second lead.
The closest battle on the roads now was for the final step on the podium with Hickman, Hillier and Johnston fighting it out.
A superb pit stop saw Hillier close to within two tenths of a second on 31-year-old Hickman at Glen Helen, with Padgetts Honda duo Cummins and Johnston 10 seconds further back in fifth and sixth.
By Ballaugh, Hillier was back into third, 0.6 seconds ahead of Hickman, a gap which he doubled by Ramsey.
Harrison still led on the road with Dunlop in his slip stream as the pair hurtled onto their final lap, the Ballymoney man knowing that all he had to do was sit on his rival’s back wheel and the race was his.
This he did, with Harrison, in an act of sportsmanship, allowing Dunlop past on the run to the chequered flag, which nearly cost him second place.
Hickman had retaken third and finished just a quarter of a second behind Harrison, with Hillier 1.8 seconds behind the Triumph in fourth, Cummins fifth and Josh Brookes sixth on the McAms Yamaha.
Hickman joked afterwards: “Dean can thank his pal Lee (Johnston) for that second place as I got stuck behind him through Governors Dip.”
Johnston finished in eighth, Derek McGee 11th, Davy Todd a brilliant 12th on his TT debut on the Cookstown BE Honda, Adam McLean 17th and Michael Sweeney 18th.
Dunlop said: “That’s more like it, 17 wins, I’m starting to ride well and I genuinely think a 130mph Supersport lap is on in the second race on Wednesday.
“Dean is riding quick and is quick out of the blocks. He’s the ideal size for these bikes, Peter’s too tall and I’m too wide to get squeezed into a 600. The sun was