Dunlop wins twice red-flagged Supersport event

Michael Dunlop took victory in a twice red-flagged Supersport race at the North West 200 to claim the ninth win of his career at the event.

The first attempt to run the race was halted when Ian Hutchinson came off without injury at the Mill Road roundabout and then the second staging was stopped on the fifth lap after an incident at the same section involving Richard Cooper and Paul Jordan, both also unhurt.

The results were taken after four laps, leaving Dunlop the winner on his V2 Ducati, his third Supersport victory over the Triangle circuit.

His triumph took him above Ian Lougher and Steve Plater in terms of wins at the meeting, and level with the total achieved by Tony Rutter and Davey Todd.

The Ballymoney rider led at the end of each lap and enjoyed a 0.3-seconds advantage over runner-up Dean Harrison when the riders completed their fourth circuit.

Josh Brookes completed the rostrum places after Cooper and Jordan were excluded from the results after their incident, followed by Alastair Seeley in fourth, Carl Phillips fifth and Mitch Rees sixth.

Dunlop and Harrison were involved in a titanic tussle at the front, with the English rider emerging with a new lap record for the class at 118.748mph.

Dunlop was also inside his previous benchmark for the middleweight category with 118.683.

It was a 17th podium finish for Harrison at the North West.

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