2016 Isle of Man TT: Monster Energy Supersport TT 1 Results

Ian Hutchinson set a new Supersport TT race record but his victory was overshadowed by the post-race disqualification of second-place finisher Michael Dunlop.

The original race results had Dunlop finishing 14 seconds behind Hutchinson’s record time of 1:11:36.808 but TT promoter ACU Events excluded his results because of a techinical infringement found during post-race inspection. ACU Events did not elaborate on the issue but did say it did not believe there was a deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage.

Mar-Train Racing, which supplied Dunlop’s team with the engine for his Yamaha R6, released a statement accepting responsibility for the disqualification. Mar-Train explains the engine had coated cam buckets which were legal when it was assembled two years ago. The engine had been refreshed for use as a spare engine for this year’s TT but the Mar-Train’s crew chief did not realize the coated cam buckets were no longer legal.

“We replaced all known components associated with wear and tear, known as an engine refresh, however regretfully overlooked the specifications of the cam buckets as they were not a component that would have suffered from this wear and tear,” says Shane Wogan of Wogan Performance which handled the engine refresh. “We are devastated that Michael Dunlop and the MD Racing team have been disqualified over an issue that we as a business completely overlooked. We would like to apologize to Mar-Train Racing, Michael, MD Racing and the technical inspectors for the inconvenience we have caused.”

Hutchinson led after the opening lap, averaging a speed of 127.872 on the Mountain Course and a ten-second gap over Dunlop with Dean Harrison a few seconds further back. The lead grew to 12.8 seconds after the second lap when teams entered the pits to refuel.

Dunlop could not make up significant ground on Hutchinson who eased his way home to win his 12th career TT (and seventh in the Supersport TT class). Dunlop crossed the finish in second, though his result was later negated.

Harrison’s average speed of 124.907 mph got him promoted to second while James Hillier was third at 124.391 mph.

Dunlop wasn’t the only competitor to get his results voided. Rob Hodson, who initially finished 14th, was disqualified after officials found his Suzuki GSX-R600 was using a “significantly oversized engine.”

Hodson released the following statement on his Facebook page: