William Dunlop on the Wilson Craig Honda brought the curtain down on a very successful 2011 Isle of Man TT Races taking a hard-earned 8th place in the Pokerstars Senior TT Race in which he raced with a broken steering damper.
The six-lap race got underway at 5.15pm after a long rain delay with William eager to get into the top six of the race, and he soon set off in his pursuit of that, with Dunlop setting his fastest ever lap of the TT circuit from a
standing start on lap one at 17'40.34s, a speed of 128.099mph.
At the end of lap one, William was in 8th place and on lap two, he upped the race pace to record a lap of 128.180mph to continue in that eighth place. But on lap two William encountered a problem with his machine when the steering damper broke coming over the mountain, and with no time to repair it in the pits, Dunlop somehow managed to compete the full race distance and record that 8th place finish, a remarkable feat in anyone's eyes.
"The big Wilson Craig Honda Superbike was flying, and she really is the bike for the Island. I was really gutted when the steering damper broke, and I even thought about pulling out of the race. But, we kept going and it was not easy holding on to her over the next four laps, but I was determined to try and give Wilson a race result in this race," said the elder Dunlop.
"This was of course the first race that I rode the Superbike in at the TT as I used the Stock bike in the TT Superbike race. All things considered, I am really chuffed to have achieved as a Team what we have this year at the TT. My best ever results, and my fastest laps around the Isle of Man, by over four seconds, so I think that is quite good.
"I want to thank Wilson for providing me with the bikes. They are top notch, and well capable of podium places in all classes. If I have the chance to continue with Wilson next year, I know what our settings are and I would be very confident of podium places in the future. Also to Dunlop Tyres for all their help with the Dunlop's working perfectly all week. To all my sponsors, thanks for helping me produce my finest TT Races to date. Now for something to eat and put to the feet up."
