Dunlop dominates post-TT road racing festival

After two weeks of competing on the TT Mountain course, William Dunlop enjoyed a change of fortunes when the action switched to the 4.25-mile Billown course in the south of the Isle of Man.

The son of Robert and nephew of Joey took three victories from three starts at the Manx Telecom Post TT Road Races.

In the opening race, Ulsterman Dunlop and Manxman Chris Palmer provided the enthusiasts lining the course with a high-speed demonstration of skilled riding.

Palmer took the hole-shot in the eight lap race and held the lead from his rival for the first two laps before Dunlop took the lead with a 1.22 seconds advantage, extending it at the chequered flag to 6.7 seconds.

Third throughout was newcomer, Frenchman Steve Cervellin.

In the concurrently run 400cc class, Blackpool's Roy Richardson had a lonely start-to-finish ride to victory on the 400 Yamaha that took Carolynn Sells to her Manx Grand Prix win last year. Ross Johnson and Peter Simpson completed the podium.

The second race of Saturday evening was the combined 250cc and 650cc SuperTwins race, again run concurrently over eight laps, with the classes starting one-minute apart.

It was doubles all round for both Dunlop and Richardson at the chequered flag after 34 miles of racing. The Ulsterman led on all but the opening lap, when Palmer held a slender half-second lead, but retired with a seized engine on the next circuit.

Davy Morgan held second from then on, until the final lap when fellow Ulsterman Barry Davidson slipped past to take the runner-up spot.

Meanwhile the flying Lancastrian took charge of the SuperTwins class for all but the third lap when Manxman Stephen Oates took the lead, only to retire a lap later.

John Burrows was second with Czech rider Michal Dokoupil taking a splendid third placed on his debut at Billown.

The final event of the programme, the 600 Supersport feature race, saw Dunlop enjoy a start-to-finish victory on his CD Racing Yamaha.

With a lead of 1.186 seconds at the end of the opening lap it was slowly extended to 11.530 seconds at the chequered flag. Dunlop wasn't content to break the lap record once, on the second lap at 106.229mph - he bettered it again next time round at 106.489mph!

Second throughout was fellow Ulsterman John Burrows and third was Michal Dokoupil, chasing Burrows for all eight laps.