North West 200: Dunlop at the double
The Ballymoney rider picked up his first win since 2016
Michael Dunlop sealed a memorable win double last night (Thursday) at the North West 200.
The Ballymoney man was first home in both the Supersport and Superstock races.
Dunlop had not won at the famous north-coast event since 2016.
The delighted home favourite said afterwards: "It's nice to win in Northern Ireland again at international level!’ he said after leading Richard Cooper (Russell Racing/BPE Yamaha) home by 0.378 sec in the Supersport encounter with Davey Todd 0.121 sec behind on the Milenco Padgett’s Honda.
‘I knew I could win here again and the local fans are fantastic so I really enjoyed it.
"We struggled a bit with the bike at the beginning of the week and there's still more to come from it but having been on the wrong end of things in the past I pulled my finger out to make sure I was in the right place at the right time this time around."
Dunlop took the Superstock class ahead of Dean Harrison by 2.659 seconds on the Honda Racing Fireblade and third-placed Ian Hutchinson who finished a further 5.815 seconds.
Before the opening Superbike race of the evening was flagged off all of the competitors in the event observed a minute’s silence in honour of VE Day.
Today (Friday) is rest day at the event - before tomorrow's main racing.