STATEMENT ISSUED BY ACU EVENTS LTD

ISLE OF MAN TT RACES - SUPERSPORT RACE 1 POST RACE DISQUALIFICATIONS

ACU Events Ltd can confirm that two competitors have been disqualified from today’s Supersport Race 1 at the Isle of Man TT Races.

Michael Dunlop has been excluded from the results for a technical infringement identified during post race examination.  

ACU Events Ltd do not believe that there was a deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage and no significant performance advantage was gained.

As a result of this disqualification, Dean Harrison moves up to second place with James Hillier now taking the final podium position.

In addition Rob Hodson, who finished 14th in the same race, has also been disqualified from the race having been found to have been running a significantly oversized engine.

Ian Hutchinson

Dean Harrison

James Hillier

Michael Dunlop has been excluded from the result of Monday morning’s Monster Energy Supersport One race.

TT organisers have said in a statement that second-place Dunlop was disqualified for a ‘technical infringement’ with his Yamaha R6, while fellow competitor Rob Hodson was also excluded having been found to have been running ‘a significantly oversized engine’ after finishing 14th.

The revised result sees Dean Harrison moves up to runner-up spot behind Ian Hutchinson with James Hillier third.

An ACU statement said: 

‘ACU Events Ltd can confirm that two competitors have been disqualified from today’s Supersport Race 1 at the Isle of Man TT Races.

‘Michael Dunlop has been excluded from the results for a technical infringement identified during post race examination.

‘ACU Events Ltd do not believe that there was a deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage and no significant performance advantage was gained.

‘As a result of this disqualification, Dean Harrison moves up to second place with James Hillier now taking the final podium position.

‘In addition Rob Hodson, who finished 14th in the same race, has also been disqualified from the race having been found to have been running a significantly oversized engine.’

Dunlop’s engine was supplied by Mar-Train Racing.

A statement from them commented: 

‘Mar-Train Racing can confirm that they supplied Michael Dunlop and MD Racing with a Yamaha R6 engine for today’s Monster Energy Supersport TT. Unfortunately this engine has been found to be illegal and Michael has subsequently been disqualified from the result.

‘The illegal element within this engine was a set of coated cam buckets which had been legal two years ago when the engine was originally built. This has been a spare engine and as such was fully refreshed to again be our spare engine for the 2016 TT.

‘An oversight due in part to personnel changes in the team as well as a change in engine builder has meant that this obvious irregularity was missed. Our crew-chief, mistakenly assumed that this engine had seen use in 2015 and that it would be in compliance with the rules. Our engine builder, subsequently, and in good faith, refreshed and prepared the engine as he received it.

Shane Wogan of Wogan Performance added:

‘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. 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 apologies to Mar-Train Racing, Michael, MD Racing and the technical inspectors for the inconvenience we have caused.

‘We trust that anyone who knows the team, including the TT technical inspectors, will understand that this embarrassing oversight does not reflect the specification of machine we usually put on the grid. It goes without saying that the rider being excluded from the results could very well have been our own in this instance.

‘We are gutted for Michael, his team and sponsors and can only apologise for this oversight on our behalf. We fully understand the effort that goes into achieving a TT podium and can therefore appreciate just how they must feel right now.’