DUNLOP TAKES DEBUT VICTORY FOR TYCO SUZUKI
William Dunlop raced to his and Tyco Suzuki’s first victory of the 2014 season at the 54th ‘Around-a-Pound Tandragee 100’ Road Races in Northern Ireland yesterday.
The Ballymoney rider set a new Supersport class lap record during Friday night’s qualifying session at the ultra-fast County Armagh circuit; then backed-it-up with a calculated victory aboard his Tyco Suzuki GSX-R600 in the same class during Saturday’s action.
Sadly the event was marred by a fatality during the Junior Support race, and all at Tyco Suzuki and TAS Racing would like to pass on their condolences to the family of Lusk rider Noel Murphy.
Said Dunlop: “I qualified on Pole Position, won the race and set the fastest lap, so there are no complaints from me. The GSX-R600 Suzuki is a great bike to ride. I was able to win my first-ever Supersport race at Tandragee and also set my fastest-ever lap around here, so it sets us up well now for the North West 200.”
Team Manager Philip Neill said: “It’s difficult to celebrate a victory in such sad circumstances and our thoughts are obviously with the family of Noel Murphy at this time. We’ve put a lot of work into William this past few weeks and the Tandragee Supersport victory is just-reward to the whole team’s efforts, obviously including William who is settling in very well. It means we can now go into the North West 200 with some positive energy and I know that William is hungry for success at the Triangle this year on the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R machinery.”
Supersport Race Results: 1. William Dunlop (Tyco Suzuki GSX-R600) 18mins 09.411sec; 2. Keith Amor +0.186; 3. Derek McGee +5.692; 4. Conor Behan +26.546; 5. Jamie Hamilton +27.098; 6. Seamus Elliott +28.120.
Fastest Lap: William Dunlop (Tyco Suzuki) 2:58.950sec – 107.502mph.