The sun has finally settled on what was truly an unforgettable TT 2023. Huge respect is rightly deserved to every competitor with several including Ballymoney’s own Michael Dunlop and team receiving the lion’s share of the plaudits. Michael won 4 races, taking his tally to 25 TT wins making him the second most successful TT rider ever, had another 3 podium places, set new lap records and the race team picked up the leading team award, a phenomenal achievement.
There were many stand out performances including Peter Hickman’s 4 wins, Dean Harrison was arguably Mr Consistency with an outstanding six podium finishes, whilst rising TT star Jamie Coward cemented the award of leading privateer for the second year with six top six finishes. Several TT regulars added to their tally of Replica awards including Hillier, Rutter, Davo Johnstone, Neve, West, Bian, Padgetts Davy Todd and an unwell Connor Cummins with John McGuinness confirming his status as a TT Legend. Special acknowledgement is reserved for a delighted Dominic Herbertson who joined the 130 club, Race team Burrows Engineering and rider Mike Browne who had their first podium with 2nd place in the Supertwin 1 race and regular Armoy competitors Paul Jordan, Shaun Anderson, Brian McCormack, Philip Crowe, Forrest Dunn, Joey Thompson and Michal ‘Indi’ Dokoupil amongst the competitors who were having ‘the time of their lives’.
The Isle of Man TT always has highs and lows from the remarkable performances and results, the dominance of the Birchall brothers, to the hard luck stories particularly in the Supertwin 2 race and sadly too the loss of Raul Torras Martinez. Respect to everyone and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of everyone.