DUNLOP CLAIMS 33RD TT WIN WITH NEW SUPERTWIN LAP RECORD

Words by Phil Wain and images courtesy of IOMTTRaces

Michael Dunlop’s winning spree at the 2025 Isle of Man TT Races continued on Friday evening. He took his fourth win of the week in the Entire Cover insurance Supertwin TT Race. It was his 33rd win in total.

Dunlop and his MD Racing Paton were never headed, claiming victory by 26.775 seconds from Davey Todd (Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles Paton). Dominic Herbertson (Melbray Racing Paton) took third place. Dunlop also set a new lap record of 123.056 mph on the final lap.

Getting underway in the evening sunshine at 6:00 pm over the scheduled three-lap distance, Dunlop led at Glen Helen by three seconds from Todd. Adam McLean (Flitwick Motorcycles/SMV Yamaha) was in a strong third. Rob Hodson (SMT Racing Paton) slotted into fourth ahead of Herbertson and Mike Browne (KMR/Jack Reid Cars Kawasaki). But first race runner-up Michael Evans (Dafabet Racing Kawasaki) was out, pulling in at Glen Helen.

By Ballaugh, Dunlop had added another two seconds to his lead.

Browne had moved ahead of McLean, with the gap between them just three-quarters of a second. However, Hodson and Herbertson overhauled both of them. It left only five seconds covering third to sixth.

By Ramsey, Dunlop had extended his lead to nine seconds. Meanwhile, Hodson had closed to within two-tenths of a second of Todd. Browne moved ahead of Herbertson to take over fourth place. They were only separated by a second. McLean was still well in touch in sixth.

Dunlop was building on his lead through every timing point, and an opening lap of 121.664 mph gave him a 12-second advantage over Todd (120.361 mph) ahead of the compulsory pit stop. Hodson (119.684 mph) was 6.3 seconds adrift of Todd. Only 2.5 seconds covered third to sixth, with Browne (119.642 mph), Herbertson (119.503 mph), and McLean (119.436 mph) hot on Hodson’s heels.

Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2 Aprilia), Barry Furber (DC Motorcycles Newtown Yamaha), Michael Rutter (Bathams AJN Racing Yamaha), and Joe Yeardsley (Scott Racing Aprilia) rounded out the top ten after the first 37 and three-quarter miles.

Dunlop lost six seconds to Todd at the pit stop but clawed some of that back on the nine-mile run to Glen Helen.

His advantage was now 9.5 seconds. Hodson had a good start to the second lap, his margin to fourth place was 4.4 seconds. However, there was still little to choose between fourth to sixth, where the order was now Herbertson, McLean, and Browne.

A new best sector time from Glen Helen to Ballaugh helped Dunlop extend his lead over Todd to 12.1 seconds. It crept up to 14.6 seconds rounding Ramsey Hairpin for the second time. Hodson continued to tighten his hold on third and the final podium position. Herbertson was still in fourth, but Browne overtook McLean for fifth place. However, Hodson’s hopes of a second podium were dashed when he retired shortly afterwards, just after the Gooseneck.

Going into the final lap, Dunlop’s lead stood at 14.5 seconds, with Todd looking equally secure in second. His gap to new third-placed rider Herbertson was 17.4 seconds. Herbertson still had work to do, as his advantage over Browne was only 3.8 seconds. Meanwhile, McLean was just 1.6 seconds further back in fifth.

Dunlop set another new sector time from the Grandstand to Glen Helen. Herbertson also enjoyed the first nine miles of the final lap as he pulled 6.5 seconds clear of Browne. Fourth to seventh was still anyone’s game, with only 3.9 seconds covering Browne, McLean, Jordan, and Furber.

Dunlop was on lap-record pace, dragging Jordan with him on the road and up the leaderboard.

A final lap of 123.056 mph helped Dunlop set a new record and claim his 33rd TT win. His final winning margin over Todd was 26.775 seconds.

The battle for the final podium position went all the way to the line. Jordan’s brave effort fell short of Herbertson (121.370 mph) by three seconds. Herbertson took his second TT podium. Jordan (121.899 mph) settled for fourth ahead of Browne (120.791 mph) and McLean (120.397 mph). Furber (120.347 mph) also set his first 120 mph+ Supertwin lap in seventh. Yeardsley, Michal Dokoupil (Indi Racing Aprilia), and Michael Sweeney (MSR Racing Aprilia) completed the top ten.