Since 2000, road racing legend Joey Dunlop stood as the most successful rider at the TT with 26 wins that only went matched last Saturday when his nephew Michael scored his 26th success in the opening Supersport race.
The Dunlop dynasty is road racing’s most enduring, with Michael Dunlop’s latest success poignant with Joey having died in 2000 in a race, and father Robert Dunlop losing his life at the North West 200 in 2008 and his older brother William at Skerries in 2018.
Michael Dunlop dominated Wednesday’s Supertwin race at the 2024 TT to break Joey’s all-time record, something the 35-year-old says he has always wanted.
Speaking to the TT+ live feed after the race, Dunlop said of his historic win: “Obviously, I’ll never be modelled against Joey and I don’t expect to be and I don’t want to be.
“Joey was a special talent. My record, somebody will get it someday, but I don’t care.
“Everyone inspired in life to be a Joey Dunlop at the Isle of Man and another win for me that’s the top of top.
“It’s not that many better, it’s just a personal thing now that I wanted to break. It’s one of them records… I’ve broken a lot of records in my lifetime but that’s the one I wanted.”
Dunlop was on course to win his 27th TT in the Superbike race last Sunday, before a visor issue knocked him out of the lead.
He says his Supertwin win eases the pain of that defeat on Sunday “but not all of it”.
“I don’t like to be cocky but we should have been on 28 today but for the sheer disappointment of the last day and I wanted to make up for it,” he added.
“We knew we had an issue [with the Supertwin] on the first night [of practice] and the boys have worked really, really hard and I must say thanks to them for working all night.
“Just we had issues in the first practice, first lap, and they’ve fixed it and the bike’s working well.
“We had a few issues in the race that we’ll fix for Friday but to get that overall thing was all I was looking for.
“Can’t say much more else. It’s taken a bit of the dampener off Sunday but not all of it.”
Dunlop will have a chance at winning his 28th TT later on Wednesday afternoon when the first Superstock race of the event gets under way.
