Dunlop, Hickman and Hutchinson
The three kings of the TT 2018 reveal all
Many of Michael Dunlop’s fans believe their hero has only got to turn up at this year’s TT to win the Superbike and Senior TT races. They may well be right. Without John McGuinness or Bruce Anstey in the starting line-up and Ian Hutchinson’s last-minute return to action after his injury problems, Dunlop’s opposition has been weakened if not decimated.
In truth, only Hutchy has looked capable of matching Dunlop’s superbike pace during the past two seasons. John McGuinness is now ten seconds a lap slower than Dunlop and the time gap continues to yawn between the Ballymoney man and the rest of his TT rivals.
Peter Hickman and James Hillier are almost 12 seconds in arrears. Dean Harrison remains 15 seconds slower even though the he was the only TT frontrunner who improved his pace in last year’s iffy conditions. Add to this the fact that Dunlop is now reunited with the dominant superbike of the current era, BMW’s S1000RR, and his rivals could be forgiven for wondering if it is worth turning up at all. So yes, on paper at least, the 15-time TT winner could – and probably should – walk away from TT 2018 with another BMW powered Superbike and Senior TT double to emulate his performances in 2014 and 2016 on the Hawk machines. But when did paper ever mean anything at the TT? Alongside speed and skill, luck continues to play a greater part in TT racing than any other motorcycle sport. Nothing illustrates this better than Dunlop’s Senior success last year. Off the pace in the original start as he struggled with a too soft rear shock on his Bennett’s Suzuki, Dunlop was thrown a lifeline by Hutchy’s misfortune.
The Bingley rider’s crash at the 25th milestone brought out the red flags, forcing a restart which Dunlop dominated. Without that the Irishman would have had only a solitary Supersport victory for his fortnight’s effort. But then, as Dunlop is fond of saying: “If your granny had balls she would be your grandad…!”
Many, including Dunlop himself, felt it was the pressure exerted by the Smith’s BMW mounted Peter Hickman that forced Hutchy into the error that caused his crash in last year’s Senior. Although Hickman didn’t lap as fast on the BMW in 2017 as he had the previous year on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki, his lap times were much more consistent, producing five podium finishes. The BSB star’s performance also convinced Dunlop he had to up his game.
A humiliating series of superbike defeats to Hickman and Dean Harrison at last year’s Ulster Grand Prix soured relations between Dunlop and the Hawk team which led to the view that the Suzuki wasn’t up to the job of winning Senior TTs unless it was afforded a lot of factory development. When that failed to materialise during the 2018 pre-season Spanish tests, Dunlop dumped the GSX-R in favour of Tyco’s S1000RR.
It was a move that shocked many of his diehard supporters after several years of bitter enmity between Dunlop and the Tyco BMW team. That he did so highlighted Dunlop’s ruthless determination to do whatever is required, including swallowing his own harsh words, to win more of the ‘big silver ladies’ as he calls the Superbike and Senior TT trophies.
It should be a match made in heaven. Philip and Hector Neill, Tyco team bosses, have been pursuing Dunlop’s services for years. They have now got their man. In turn, Dunlop will benefit from the team’s massive road racing experience and the factory race support Tyco’s status as the official BMW roads team brings.
“He is a hearty opponent but it is very different when you are both on the same side of the fence,” was Philip Neill’s measured view of his new recruit during Dunlop’s first competitive outing with the team at the recent Cookstown 100.
A hearty opponent indeed. The outright lap record holder and the only man to lap the TT circuit in under 17 minutes, Dunlop’s superior TT pace is the product of a long and dedicated apprenticeship. Giving the lie to the thinking that Irish road racing has a negligible influence on TT performance, Dunlop served his time between Ireland’s hedges, winning at every National and International meeting.
Only McGuinness knows the 37.73 miles better than Dunlop and he can no longer ride it as fast. Dunlop has won TTs on Yamahas, Kawasakis, Hondas, BMWs and Suzukis. In 2013 and again in ’14 he won four races each year, plus taking Superbike and Senior doubles in 2014 and 2016.
In spite of this success, Dunlop is far
‘HE IS A HEARTY OPPONENT BUT IT IS VERY DIFFERENT WHEN YOU ARE BOTH ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE FENCE’
from infallible. No-one will forget the 2015 Milwaukee Yamaha debacle when he dumped the new R1 during TT practice. Shaun Muir’s Milwaukee squad and their ‘uncompetitive’ superbike went on to win the BSB championship with Josh Brookes while Dunlop went home empty handed. Run under his own MD Racing banner, Dunlop will ride a PTR-prepared Honda in this year’s Supersport races and an S1000RR in the stocker class. He won last year’s only 600cc race but has failed to match his pace and performances over the past three years on the supersport and superstock machinery he previously established in 2013/14.
These, though, are minor quibbles concerning the man who is the dominant force in TT racing. He has shattered lap and race records as he won six of the last ten TT superbike races. Only an unparalleled upping of the pace by his rivals and/or a complete desertion of that famous Irish luck can prevent Dunlop from adding to that tally in 2018.