After the disastrous Nurburgring IDM round, I was pleased to get back to the Isle of Man and forget about it. Whilst I’d been away the team had replaced the injured James McBride with Micheal Dunlop, son of Robert Dunlop, who was tragically killed at the northwest 200 just 2 weeks earlier. When I arrived on the Tuesday Micheal had already raced in the superbike race and finished 14th. With this result under his belt he was looking for a top ten in the Senior TT.
On Wednesday afternoon the roads were closed, and the competitors took to the circuit for a few practice laps. Micheal completed two laps on the bike and felt happy with the softer rear spring we were evaluating. the bike was then prepared for the race, which included fitting an on board camera for the press.
Micheal’s start number for the race was 19, meaning he started 19th on the road. after one lap he was in 12th position and after two routine fuel and rear tyre stops, Dunlop finished the 6 lap race in 10th. This it has to be said is a great result considering he missed practice week.
Phase One’s season has so far been an on going saga of crashes, riders giving up and more crashes. The TT was no different, as one of the planned riders McBride, crashed his own bike and needed replacing. Then Jimmy Moore decided he didn’t want to race because he found he was thinking about his family and couldn’t go fast. However this turn of events was dealt with, and the team came away with 5 finshes from 5 starts, which was better than most of the top teams.
The next World Endurance event is the Suzuka 8hrs which is the best event of the year in my opinion. It is held on the 27th of July.
Tags: Craig Reilly, Isle Of Man, James McBride, Micheal Dunlop, Motorcycle, Phase One Endurance, Race Ready Industries, Road Racing, TT
