Joey Dunlop rode his Honda VTR SP1 to victory in today’s TT Formula 1 race on the Isle of Man, winning the six-lap race by almost one minute from Yamaha’s Michael Rutter. John McGuinness, on another Honda VTR, was third. It was Dunlop’s eighth TT Formula 1 race win – his first since 1988 – and his 24^th victory at the annual Isle of Man festival.

Starting at number three, Dunlop led throughout the race apart from lap four when last year’s winner, David Jefferies, snatched a half-second lead as the leaders pitted for the second time. But slick work from Dunlop’s mechanics sent him out for his final two laps with a six-second advantage after the pit stops.

Jefferies, however, developed mechanical problems early in lap five and retired his Yamaha at Ballig Bridge, leaving Dunlop with a 50-second lead over Rutter.

"I eased off on the last lap and tried to be really smooth," said Dunlop, 48. "We had some handling problems throughout practice and spent a long time trying different suspension settings. It was only when we put in the same tyre that I used in last year’s race that everything started to come together."

The Ballymoney publican, who was just 0.3 seconds outside Steve Hislop’s 1991 race record, continued: "I never thought I’d win another Formula 1 race but I’ve never had a bike this good. It’s the first time I’ve been on a V-twin in this race and the VTR is the best bike I’ve ever ridden."

TT Formula 1 (six-laps, 226.38 miles):
1 Joey Dunlop (Honda) 1 hour 52 minutes 15.3 seconds – 120.99mph,
2 Michael Rutter (Yamaha) 1h 53m 14.9s – 119.93mph,
3 John McGuinness (Honda) 1h 53m 38.0s – 119.53mph,
4 Ian Lougher (Yamaha) 1h 54m 22.8s – 118.75mph,
5 Jim Moodie (Honda) 1h 55m 08.6s – 117.96mph,
6 Jason Griffiths (Yamaha) 1h 55m 44.1s – 117.36mph,
7 Nigel Davies (Yamaha) 1h 56m 01.1s – 117.07mph,
8 Carl Rennie (Kawasaki) 1h 57m 55.2s – 115.18mph,
9 Brian Gardiner (Honda) 1h 58m 04.8s – 115.03mph,
10 Jim Hodson (Kawasaki) 1h 58m 45.0s – 114.38mph.

Joey Dunlop on the slick shod factory engined Honda SP 1 leads the 2000 Isle Of Man F1 TT race by just 3/10ths of a second after the first of six laps in steadily improving weather conditions.

second place is being held down by V & M Yamaha R1   rider, Michael Rutter, with John McGuinness a further 4.6 seconds back in third on his VTR Honda.

Amazingly, firm favourite for this race, V & M Yamaha’s David Jefferies is a further 5.2 seconds back in fourth while Fireblade mounted Jim Moodie is holding onto fifth.

Unfortunately we’ve lost our live stream from the Isle Of Man, but at least they are acknowledging our e-mails and have explained that the sudden demand for live streams from around the World is causing a few problems !

END OF LAP 2

Joey Dunlop, first on the road and first in the race, pulls into the pits for the first of two scheduled pit stops.

In addition to fuel, Joey’s SP 1 receives a new rear tyre, while Joey’s helmet gets a new visor.

We’re still waiting to see about times and speeds, but Joey is approximately 6 seconds ahead of a hard charging Jeffries.

Both Joey and Jeffries leave the pits without incident.

Michael Rutter however, is only about 2 seconds behind his V & M Yamaha team mate Jeffries and also has a clean pit stop.

Ian Duffus meanwhile, couldn’t get his Honda Fireblade to start again after his pit stop and has to retire.

END OF LAP 3

Joey Dunlop has just crossed the start / finish line at 171.1mph on his SP 1 Honda to start lap 4 of the 2000 Isle Of Man Formula 1 TT.

At this stage they are saying this is the fastest ever speed recorded across the Douglas start / finish line !

The just completed lap 3 saw a real tug of war in regards to the times Joey led arch rival, David Jeffries.

At one point Joey led Jeffries by 7 seconds, then it was down to 4 seconds ... as he flashed through to start lap 4 his lead was 4.7 seconds.

Third place at the moment is still being held by Michael Rutter, who is a disappointing 21.3 seconds further back on the other V & M R1 Yamaha.

Fourth is presently held by McGuinness who is a further 5.7 seconds in arrears, while Moodie holds down fifth.

Wish they’d get that live stream on the Island fixed !!

LAP 5

JEFFRIES OUT - RIDER OK !!

That’s the shocking news from the Isle of Man, with F1 race favourite David Jeffries retiring on lap 5 at Ballig Bridge.

Reports are coming through that Jeffries’ R1 Yamaha was smoking badly, so it seems that his hard charging antics trying to peg back Joey Dunlop took their toll.

Speaking of Dunlop, he now leads this F 1 race by some 50 seconds and a legion of fans on the Island and right around the World via the internet are now biting their fingernails to see if the World’s greatest ever motorcycle road racer can clinch his 24th IOM TT win.

Keep ‘er lit Joey !!!

Michael Rutter now holds down second, from McGuinness in third and Moodie in fourth.

JOEY DUNLOP WINS 2000 IOM TT Formula 1 RACE

Joey Dunlop at 48 years of age has just collected his 24th Isle Of Man TT win, bagging the 2000 Formula 1 race on his factory engined SP 1 Honda by an incredible 50 seconds.

In the middle stages of the race, David Jeffries hounded Dunlop and closed to within a couple of seconds of the TT master - until Jeffries’ R1 Yamaha expired on lap 5.

Dunlop’s leading margin throughout the sixth and final lap was just over 50 seconds from V & M Yamaha’s Michael Rutter, while John McGuinness held onto third.

After Jeffries retirement, Ian Lougher was the hard charger putting his head down in the closing laps and climbing into fourth.

Those positions remained through to the finish.

Come back to mcnews.com.au tomorrow, Sunday June 4th, when we’ll look at further results from this F1 race and look more closely at times and speeds.

Congratulations to Honda and Joey Dunlop !!