Southern 100: Michael Dunlop secures second win at Isle of Man meeting

Michael Dunlop 1000cc victory repeated his win in the class at last year's meeting

Michael Dunlop took his second victory of the Southern 100 meeting on the Isle of Man by winning Wednesday night's Senior race over the Billown circuit.

The Hawk Racing BMW rider enjoyed a massive advantage of 25 seconds over runner-up, Manxman Dan Kneen, by the chequered flag, with Ivan Lintin third.

Bradford's Dean Harrison pipped Lintin by 0.037 seconds to take the Supersport 600cc honours after a thrilling battle.

Lintin won the 650cc and Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance the sidecar race one.

Dunlop's other success to date came in the curtain-raiser of the event, the 1000cc class on Tuesday night, in which he was a comfortable 12-second winner over Lincolnshire's RC Express Kawasaki rider Lintin.

After Wednesday's triumph over the 4.25-mile course in difficult conditions, Dunlop indicated that he had overcome the problems he had suffered with his machine earlier in the week.

"I had a couple of slides with the slick rear tyre on the damp patches but the bike is working really well. I got my head down and pushed on in the first lap, then just rode it steady from then on," said the 27-year-old Ballymoney rider.

Colin Stephenson completed the podium positions in the Supersport outing, with Rob Hodson and Welshman Rhys Hardisty occupying second and third places respectively in the 650cc Supertwins.

The concluding race of the evening, the sidecars, was brought to a halt by a red flag after some competitors had completed five of the scheduled six laps.

The incident which necessitated the race being stopped involved one sidecar incident at Ballawhetstone. The driver was checked by the course doctor, with the passenger being transferred to Nobles Hospital in Douglas.

The result was taken after four laps, with Reeves and Farrance winning from Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle, with brothers Ben and Tom Birchall third.

Eight races are scheduled for Thursday's race programme, including the feature Solo Championship event over nine laps, with a first prize of £3,400 for the winner.

In the absence of Guy Martin, who won the race for the last three years, Dunlop, victor in 2011 and 2012, will start as favourite.