Ballymoney's Michael Dunlop took his fourth win of the 2013 Isle of Man TT Festival this afternoon with victory over Bruce Anstey by 2.3s in the second Monster Supersport race and smashing the lap record on his final circuit with a 128.666mph lap. He is now edging towards equalling Ian Hutchinson's five-in-a-week and has already matched Phillip McCallen's four-in-week set back in the 1996.
Anstey had led the race until Ballaugh Bridge on the last lap when Dunlop pulled three seconds from Grandstand to lead by 1.5s which he increased to two seconds at Ramsey. Despite losing the front at the Bungalow he was still 2.4s in front and then just lost a tenth on the run down the Mountain.
Padgett's HM Plant Honda man Anstey, fully recovered from the flu that plagued him earlier in the week, was also under the previous lap record, going round in 127.889mph while John McGuinness won a titanic scrap for third by one second from William Dunlop despite a big scare at Cronk-ny-Mona on the last lap.
Apart from a brief glitch at Ballaugh Bridge on the first lap, Anstey led the entire race and was nine seconds ahead after the pit-stops on lap three. Dunlop, however had got that down to 5.6s at Glen Helen on the next lap and then down to 3.6s at Ballaugh.
Anstey pulled that back to 4.844 at Ramsey and then to more than five seconds at the Bungalow but it was back to 4.1s at the Grandstand. By Glen Helen on lap four, it was just 1.4s and then Dunlop was ahead at Ballaugh and kept it to the end.
McGuinness was always in the mix in his least favourite class but played second fiddle to William Dunlop on the first three laps. He got the hammer down at the end of lap three to take third but William was back in front at Glen Helen on lap four but by only four-tenths.
There was less than a tenth of a second in it at Ballaugh Bridge but Dunlop had extended the gap back to to half a second at Ramsey. McGuinness clawed back a second at the Bungalow and said he went into Cronk-ny-Mona faster than he had ever done before to claim the final podium spot by one second.
Cameron Donald, on the Wilson Craig Honda, had no answer to the top four, taking fifth place with James Hiller's Bournemouth Kawasaki in sixth. Dean Harrison clawed past both Guy Martin and Gary Johnson to take seventh place with Conor Cummins rounding out the top ten. Dan Stewart was 11th, Jamie Hamilton 12th, David Johnson ran out in 13th place with Robert Wilson and Ivan Lintin completing the top 15.
