Michael Dunlop hopes to set up a Superbike cliffhanger at the Isle of Man TT in 2013 as he goes head to head with current era Mountain king John McGuinness in the blue riband class.

Dunlop will compete at the North West 200 and TT as a factory rider for the first time next year after he was unveiled as a new addition to the works Honda TT Legends team at the Motorcycle Live show at the NEC in Birmingham on Sunday.

The Ballymoney man joins McGuinness and fellow new Honda recruit Michael Rutter in Neil Tuxworth’s roads line-up and is expected to take the fight to the 19-times winner and outright lap record holder [131.578mph], who is unbeaten in any Superbike or Senior race he has completed at the TT in nine years.

It’s a formidable challenge, but 23-year-old Dunlop finished as the runner-up in the Superbike TT in 2010 on the Robinson Honda Fireblade in his first proper outing on a fully-fledged 1000cc racer and is adamant he can raise his game to a new level next June.

“I was talking to [John] McGuinness and he will tell you that he knows what everyone else is made of and what their potential is at the TT, but no-one knows what I’m made of on a Superbike yet at the TT,” he told the News Letter.

“I went to the TT on a Superbike for the first time in 2010. The bike never handled right up until the last night of practice but I went out in the race and finished second.

“Yes, there were a few breakdowns in the race but I still finished second and did a lap at 130mph.

“In the second race I think I was leading Ian Hutchinson and I was up into third in the Senior on the first lap and then I broke a crank, so I didn’t have much of a real run at it.

“Obviously in 2011 I had a lot of bother with the Kawasaki and then this year I was back on the Honda, but things didn’t go according to plan and I didn’t ride the Superbike in the Superbike TT and the Senior was cancelled.

“So next year I’ll be ready because we’ll have had a lot of time on the bike and everything has been sorted out early compared to other years - that will make a big difference to me.”



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