Michael Dunlop secures Joey Dunlop ‘TT Championship’ Trophy ahead of final race MIchael Dunlop will be awarded the Joey Dunlop TT Championship Trophy thanks to his four incredible wins so far at the 2013 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy. With wins in the Dainese Superbike, both Monster Energy Supersport races and the Royal London 360 Superstock race, the 24 year old Dunlop has an unassailable lead in the 2013 TT Championshiop. The Ballymoney man has achieved all this before the blue riband race, the PokerStars Senior TT, which is due to take place on Friday 7th June. The Joey Dunlop Trophy is awarded to the overall champion, based on a World Championship points system, across the Solo classes, excluding the SES TT Zero and Bikesocial.co.uk Lightweight races. Having already accumulated the maximum possible 100 points after only four of the five races, Michael Dunlop will receive the trophy and 10,000 prize money. However, second and third positions are still to be decided and with a wide range of other riders sharing the podium with Dunlop, a number of the leading riders are still in the running to finish runner-up. John McGuinness tops the chasing pack with a total of 61 points after achieving his 40th podium position in Wednesday’s Monster Energy Supersport Race 2. His grand total of podiums equals that of the TT wins record-holder and McGuinness’ hero, Joey Dunlop. Bruce Anstey is only 2 points behind the Morecambe rider in the Championship points with 59 points after top ten finishes in all four races to date including two podiums. William Dunlop, James Hillier, Cameron Donald and Dean Harrison also still have a mathematical chance of finishing second. The Privateers Championship on the other hand is still very much up for grabs. Steve Mercer is the current leader with 50 points but is closely followed in the table by Lee Johnston with 49 points and Dan Kneen and Ben Wylie, who are both on 44 points. Dan Cooper, Robert Wilson, Rob Barber and Davy Morgan all still have a chance of finishing top in the battle to be top privateer. More, from a press release issued by Milwaukee Yamaha: MILWAUKEE YAMAHA JUST MISS OUT ON PODIUM IN SECOND SUPERSPORT RACE William Dunlop took fourth place in yesterday’s Monster Energy Supersport race two for Milwaukee Yamaha with team-mate Conor Cummins finishing tenth. The Ballymoney man and his crew were disappointed with the effort, losing out on a TT podium by just one second after 150 miles of racing. Cummins again struggled slightly with the set-up on his Milwaukee Yamaha R6, but both men are now looking forward to the final race of TT2013: the blue riband six-lap Senior TT on Friday. Dunlop said: “I’m disappointed to have missed out on a podium for Milwaukee Yamaha. We had a bit of a problem with our pit lane limiter and I lost about nine seconds to McGuinness, which cost me a certain podium at the end. I’m looking forward now to riding the Superbike on Friday.” Cummins said: “It was a bit frustrating to be as far down as tenth, but I’m still not where I need to be with my set-up on the little 600, even though it’s a great machine to ride. It gets me more laps, but hopefully my race will be Friday’s Senior TT, where I’ll be looking for a top result to end the week on a high with the Milwaukee Yamaha guys.” Team Owner Shaun Muir concluded: “William started with a strong pace but faded a little in the end and Conor is still struggling a little with set-up. Overall what can I say, apart from, we are disappointed as I think we deserved a podium having held third place for most of the race. The minor malfunction we had with the pit lane limiter cost us some very important time in the end, but we will gather ourselves up and move forward again for Friday’s Senior TT.” Monster Energy Supersport Race 2 1: Michael Dunlop [Honda] 1hour: 11:52.091 2: Bruce Anstey [Honda] +2secs 3: John McGuinness [Honda] +41sec 4: William Dunlop [Milwaukee Yamaha] +1sec 5: Cameron Donald [Honda] +9sec 6: James Hillier [Kawasaki] +25sec 7: Dean Harrison [Yamaha] +22sec 8: Guy Martin [Suzuki] +33sec 9: Gary Johnson [MV Agusta] +1sec 10: Conor Cummins [Milwaukee Yamaha] +32sec For more information visit www.milwaukeeyamaha.com More, from a press release issued by Ace Cafe T3 Racing: Ace Cafe T3 Racing have the fastest Triumph on track despite running a stock engine Another fantastic result for the Ace Cafe T3 Racing team on the Isle of Man as David Johnson finishes 13th, picking up another silver replica, as well as being the fastest Triumph on track. He completed the course in 01:15:21.931 with an average speed of 120.150mph, almost 26 seconds faster than race 1. DJ put in a fantastic performance on his Daytona 675 Ace Cafe Racer in the second and final Monster Energy Supersport race at the Isle of Man TT 2013. It was a close finish, DJ was running 12th before narrowly losing out to Jamie Hamilton who went three seconds faster on the last lap. Despite still running a stock engine, DJ was 1:35 minutes ahead of the next closest Triumph of Russ Mountford. On his first lap, the Australian rider recorded 153mph as he came down the start-finish straight. The bike performed well and with the extra capacity added to the fuel tank made it across the finish line with enough spare for DJ to do a burnout outside the Ace Cafe T3 Racing hospitality suite. Team manager Dave Harris commented: “It’s a shame we missed out on 12th place, it looked like we would get it but Hamilton got us by just 3 seconds. “It’s amazing that he’s basically riding a Triumph Triple Challenge bike, the only real difference is the suspension! I daren’t tell him that though because he might not have done what he did if he knew!” Team principal Tony Scott is thrilled with how the fortnight has turned out and said: “Top Triumph and two silver replicas at our debut IOM TT, are we proud!” The Ace Cafe T3 Racing will now begin preparing for their next challenge – Knockhill. The team will be heading to the Scottish circuit with their Motorpoint British Supersport rider Rob Guiver for Round 4 on the 14th – 16th June For more information find T3 Racing on Facebook or follow @T3Racing on twitter as well as heading to our websites www.t3-racing.co.uk or www.ace-cafe-london.com. More, from a press release issued by Marks Bloom Racing and Dan Kneen’s publicist: More TT replicas and finishes for Kneen Dan Kneen’s busy week at the 2013 Isle of Man TT races has continued with three races in three days and although he hasn’t quite been able to match his high performances of recent years, the 25-year old has notched up two more finishes around the punishing Mountain Course. Monday saw Dan tackle the 4-lap Supersport and Superstock races on the 600cc and 1000cc Marks Bloom Racing Suzuki’s and he ran consistently inside the top 12 in the former. With three laps in excess of 121mph, the best of which – 121.909mph – came on the fourth and final lap, he was able to cross the line after 150 miles of racing in 11th place, just five seconds outside the top ten, for yet another silver replica. The Superstock race saw Dan make a good start and after the first 37 and 3/4 miles, he was in a solid 12th place with a lap of 124.993mph. This was where he remained on the second lap but in the second half of the race, the tough few days and lack of racing in recent months caught up with him and he slipped back to an eventual 20th place which saw him pick up a bronze replica. Wednesday saw the second 4-lap Supersport race but it didn’t go to plan for Dan and the team when the handlebar worked its way loose on the opening lap. Although he got back into the race, too much time had been lost and with the bike still not handling to his liking, he retired at the end of the second lap. Dan’s day finished with practice laps on both the Track Electronics ER6 Kawasaki and Marks Bloom Racing Suzuki Superbike and a lap on the latter of 125.85mph was his quickest of the fortnight and the 8th fastest in the session. Speaking later Dan said; “The last few days have been really tough going and the lack of racing at the beginning of the week has pretty much caught up with me, particularly on Monday. The Superbike race was solid enough and a decent result but the two races on Monday were hard work. The Supersport race was ok but the lack of time on the bike hurt me as I never really got the bike working as I wanted. I just wasn’t sharp enough either so finishing 11th was a decent result given those two factors. The Superstock race was the hardest of them all and I was literally shattered. It started fairly well but I was just getting more and more tired and had practically talked myself into stopping. I kept plugging away though and at least got a finish.” “We changed the settings on the 600 for Wednesday’s race and whilst it was better, I couldn’t take advantage of it as the handlebar worked it’s way loose and that pretty much ended the day there and then. The day finished well though as the changes to the Superbike were definitely in the right direction and I felt really happy with the practice lap so I’m feeling a lot more confident going into the Senior race. The 650 is definitely quick enough but there are still a few handling issues with it and I don’t feel 100% comfortable on the bike so we’ll continue to change a few things prior to the race. The day’s rest on Tuesday helped me massively and with another day’s rest on Thursday I’ll be able to give Friday’s racing everything.” Dan will be back in action on Friday in both the 3-lap Lightweight and 6-lap Senior races.