2025 IOMTT
Monster Energy Supersport TT Race One
Michael Dunlop achieved the extraordinary feat of winning his 30th TT in the Monster Energy Supersport TT on Monday at the 2025 Isle of Man TT.
In doing so, the Ballymoney man extended the Dunlop family total to 60, adding once again to his Uncle Joey’s tally of twenty-six and his father Robert’s five.
If that wasn’t enough, he did it on a Ducati- the first time a ‘Duke’ has taken the spoils since Kiwi Robert Holden’s single race victory in 1995.
Most importantly, (in Michael’s words) winning on the Milwaukee MD Racing Ducati means he has now been victorious on seven different manufacturers. He was already the only man to have won on six, so adding a seventh is simply incredible. Realistically, only Aprilia and Triumph remain as potential options.
Michael had been visibly disappointed after losing out on the Superbike race to Davey Todd, and you sensed that he would be going all out for this one.
However, he was relatively slow out of the blocks with the much-fancied Dean Harrison racing into an early 3s lead at Glen Helen, with Michael giving chase and James Hillier on the screaming Bournemouth Kawasaki in third.
With strong winds now whipping up ahead of the forecasted gales, Harrison was putting all he learned racing the factory Honda CBR600RR in the British Supersport Championships to good use and was pulling away from Dunlop at every checkpoint over the opening circuit. You began to wonder if Michael had made a mistake moving away from his beloved Yamaha YZF-R6; the machine that had brought him so much success over the years.
As the race had been reduced to three laps, the officials deemed it compulsory to pit at the end of lap one in the interests of safety.
As they came in to refuel, the gap between the leaders was 7.4s with Hillier riding a great race in third, just over a second up on Davey Todd.
Mikey Evans and Mike Browne were having the races of their lives in fifth and sixth, with Josh Brookes riding smart in seventh. Brookes had been caught on the road by Todd in the early stages and had nipped into his slipstream to catch a tow. With both CBR600RR Hondas apparently equally matched, Brookes would stick to Todd like glue for the remainder of the race, and it wouldn’t be long before he overtook ‘the Mikes’ and slotted into fifth.
After the splash and dash stops, Harrison apparently remained in control, with Michael only whittling little shavings off the lead at Glen Helen and Ballaugh. However, as they charged over the second half of lap two, it was clear that Michael had decided that now was the time to push.
The gap was 6s at Ballaugh, 4 at Ramsey and 3.5 at the Bungalow. Heading onto the final lap, it was just over 2s.
Deano was still just in front as they negotiated Glen Helen for the final time, but the lead was minuscule, and now the writing was on the wall.
Michael put the hammer down in such a devastating manner that you had to wonder if the 36-year-old had simply been biding his time before pulling the pin.
As he ducked under the chequered linen to take the win, he had built up a lead of 10.2s in less than a lap.
Harrison came home 45s ahead of Hillier, who scored his first podium since 2018.
Behind them, Todd finished fourth ahead of Brookes. The Padgetts man sounded slightly miffed after the race. Strong head winds meant that Todd had done all the hard work, while Josh had smartly sat in behind him in the still air.
Unfortunately, Mikey Evans retired from the race, and Mike Browne overshot Sulby Bridge before crashing out while attempting to bring his Yamaha under control. Thankfully he was reported as having no injuries. In their absence, Rob Hodson completed the top six.
But it was all about Dunlop, the King of Supersport who had this to say in the winner’s enclosure.
Michael Dunlop
“I got my shit together; it’s a bit like the big bike- we haven’t had a lot of laps. I knew it was going to be hard with the little amount of laps (of practice) and the characteristics of the bike. But big hats off to the lads, the wee bike’s dinging along nicely there. I enjoyed riding it, it just took me a lap or two to get dialled into it.
“I knew I had to get stuck in, I didn’t want to get caught out like I did in the first race. I was nervous of being in the wrong place at the wrong time again. The main thing is we got a win today- 30th TT win which is pretty special too.”
Last year Michael had arrived on the island with a Triumph but had parked it after practice and returned to old faithful for the race. This time that wasn’t an option; there were too many parties invested in the Ducati to throw it to one side if it wasn’t perfect and revert back to the Yamaha. This had to work for him; there was no plan B, and he will be as relieved as he is happy about winning the race.
This was the fourteenth Supersport win of Dunlop’s TT career and his seventh in a row. The Ballymoney man remains unbeaten in the class in the post-covid era. At this stage, you have to wonder when will the winning stop? And who will stop him?
We go again in Supersport on Wednesday, when Harrison, Hillier and Todd will be more than willing to take on the challenge. You can bet Harrison will want it now more than ever.
Dean Harrison
“I got stuck in from the start in both races. The 600 I was splitting the screen from the start, it was absolutely flat-out and there wasn’t an inch of track that I didn’t use. As John (McGuinness) just said, I paid my entry fee so I might as well use it. I think the data shows that more than 80 per cent of the lap is at full throttle. The weather was better than I thought it was going to be, dry and less wind for the Superbike in the morning, and it stayed dry in the afternoon, so it was good. I’m happy that we got two podiums for the team, it’s nice for them, so you can say that is thanks to them because they have worked flat-out all week to be fair. It’s nice to pay them back a little bit with that and we’ll keep trying to do the same all week.”
Josh Brookes
“It feels a bit strange for the Supersport race to give me my best result as it’s not a class I compete in regularly, but the bike never missed a beat, and I felt comfortable sitting with Davey. He caught me pretty quickly and I was expecting him to gradually pull away, but I was able to stick with him fairly easily which seemed a bit strange so maybe he got stuck in a certain pace whilst I also knew it would have been difficult to overtake him and claw back the ten seconds. It was close to 126mph pace so there’s clearly areas for us to improve given the speed of the front runners.”
