Perfect weather conditions greeted the competitors in Monday morning’s Okells Junior Classic TT race on the Isle of Man and after a superb battle, Michael Dunlop came through to claim victory on the Black Eagle Racing MV Agusta.

Dunlop battled throughout the four-lap race with Michael Rutter’s Ripley Land Racing Honda and although he had to pit for fuel, he ate into Rutter’s lead throughout lap three to hit the front once more on the final lap, eventually winning by ten seconds.

“The first couple of laps we had a bit of a problem with the throttle but I kept pushing harder and harder. I didn’t think someone as fat as me could win a race like this. I backed off a bit on the last lap once I’d got back in front,” Dunlop quipped in parc ferme.

At Glen Helen on the first lap, Dunlop led by over seven seconds from Rutter with Jamie Coward four seconds further back in fourth but William Dunlop was already out, the Davies Motorsport Honda rider having stopped at Ballacraine. Another pre-race favourite Dean Harrison was also in trouble, outside the top twenty at the first commentary point.

Team-mate Dunlop’s first lap was all going to plan though and he was increasing his lead throughout the first 37 and ¾ miles. The Ballymoney rider had caught Rutter on the road and the duo completed the lap close together and in first and second on overall time, Dunlop’s advantage up to 10.97 seconds.

His opening lap was 103.775mph with Rutter not too far behind at 102.913mph as Coward held onto third albeit 27 seconds further back. Alan Oversby, Cameron Donald and David Madsen-Mygdal filled fourth to sixth places but Harrison, as expected, pulled in to retire.

The gap had crept up to 11.6s at Glen Helen on lap two but Rutter was hanging onto Dunlop and with the Bridgnorth rider not expected to pit for fuel on the single cylinder Honda, unlike Dunlop on the four cylinder MV, he was certainly handily placed.

The duo completed the entire second lap nose to tail but Rutter edged ahead and with the quicker lap, 103.974mph compared to Dunlop’s 103.671mph, the lead was down to 7.1s at half distance. The latter came in for fuel, but Rutter went straight through to seemingly take a grip on proceedings.

Behind these two, Coward had extended the gap to Oversby to nine seconds with Donald maintaining his fifth place as Dan Cooper, eighth on the first lap, moved up to sixth having overhauled Madsen-Mygdal and Danny Webb.

By Glen Helen third time around, Rutter’s lack of fuel stop meant he had an extremely healthy 35 second lead with Dunlop now only 15 seconds clear of Coward. However, Dunlop took seven seconds out of Rutter’s lead between Glen Helen and Ballaugh and a further five seconds on the run to Ramsey. Coward’s good run came to an end though as he retired at Kerromoar thus promoting Oversby up into the final podium spot.

Indeed, as they went out onto their fourth and final lap, Dunlop was doing all he could to claw back the deficit and Rutter’s lead was down further still, now just 13.8s, with the race all set for a thrilling climax.

It soon became apparent that Dunlop had it all under control though and with the gap at Glen Helen fourth time around down to only four seconds, the Northern Irishman went back into the lead at Ballaugh with Rutter now within touching distance on the road too.

Indeed, by Ramsey Hairpin, he’d caught him on the road and he was able to bring the MV home over the Mountain for his first victory in the Junior category, setting the fastest lap of the race on his last lap, 104.475mph. Rutter took a strong second with Oversby keeping hold of third to give Davies Motorsport a good rostrum.

“I rode the wheels off the Honda but couldn’t do anything about Michael. I could see the boards coming down but didn’t want to over rev the Honda. I saw Michael’s face smiling at me on the last lap. It was a brilliant last lap and an awesome race. I kept Michael in the slipstream but couldn’t beat him on speed,” added Rutter.

Donald, Cooper and Webb completed the top six.

Okells Junior - conditions dry

1 5 Michael Dunlop MV Agusta / Black Eagle Racing 01:27:51.735 103.061 GP2 Silver
2 4 Michael Rutter Honda / Ripley Land Racing 01:28:01.788 102.865 GP2 Silver
3 8 Alan Oversby Honda / Davies Motorsport 01:29:21.268 101.340 GP2 Silver
4 3 Cameron Donald AJS / Ripley Land Racing 01:31:36.662 98.844 GP1 Silver
5 1 Daniel Cooper Honda / CSC Racing 01:32:23.348 98.012 GP2 Bronze
6 15 Danny Webb Norton / Dunnell Racing 01:32:44.193 97.644 GP1 Silver
7 18 Alex Sinclair Honda / CSC Racing 01:32:50.684 97.531 P2 Silver
8 7 Philip McGurk Honda / Chris Hughes 01:33:08.163 97.226 GP2 Bronze
9 19 David Madsen-Mygdal Honda / Team Gimbert Racing 01:33:34.844 96.764 P2 Silver
10 31 Bill Swallow Aermacchi / Gleve Racing / John Poyner 01:34:00.101 96.330 P1 Silver
11 20 Chris Petty Honda / PWM-Sales Ltd 01:34:52.810 95.438 P2 Silver
12 16 Hefyn Owen Honda 01:34:53.424 95.428 P2 Silver
13 17 Mark Herbertson AJS / Gilbert Brown and Son Transport Ltd 01:35:13.652 95.090 P1 Silver
14 24 Ewan Hamilton Honda / McFee Family Andreas IOM 01:35:23.945 94.919 P2 Silver
15 25 Steve Ferguson Honda / Greenall Racing 01:36:38.003 93.707 P2 Silver
16 62 Jason Markham Honda / British Army Motorsports Associati 01:37:40.170 92.713 P2 Bronze
17 30 Nick Jefferies Norton / Goathland Garage 01:38:50.053 91.620 P1 Bronze
18 36 Keith Dixon Seeley / KD MOTORCYCLES ACCRINGT 01:39:36.191 90.913 P1 Bronze
19 50 Maria Costello Suzuki / Bob Jackson Racing 01:39:46.570 90.755 250 Silver
20 51 Jack Hunter Honda / Atherstone Accident Repair Centre 01:40:23.723 90.195 P2 Bronze
21 64 Jeff Smith Honda / RobSpeed Motorcycles 01:41:13.646 89.454 P2 Bronze
22 42 David Hastings Drixton Honda / Team 1066 01:41:25.242 89.284 P2 Bronze
23 70 Jaeson Caunce Honda / StarterRollers.co.uk 01:41:27.967 89.244 P2 Bronze
24 49 Brian Cooper Honda / Andrew Cooper Farrier 01:41:41.470 89.046 P2 Bronze
25 44 Arthur Browning Seeley / Bob Pearson Racing 01:42:22.194 88.456 P1 Bronze
26 54 Grant Sellars Norton 01:42:23.288 88.440 P1 Bronze
27 66 Mick Moreton Seeley 01:42:27.455 88.380 P1 Bronze
28 65 Edward Poole Norton / Sheila M Poole 01:42:59.471 87.922 P1 Bronze
29 69 Neil Watson Honda / Army Road Race Team 01:43:27.865 87.520 P2
30 67 Roy Phipps Honda / Biketech Stoke Ltd 01:43:48.002 87.237 P2
31 68 Billy Cummins Suzuki / Dickie Watson 01:44:10.028 86.930 250 Silver
32 34 Geoff Bates Bates Honda / Geoff Bates Racing 01:47:43.918 84.053 250 Bronze
33 21 Richard Wilson Honda / Advanced Performance Coatings, I 01:20:53.518 83.956 P2
34 73 Paul Matravers Norton / Round Oak Services Ltd 01:22:06.816 82.707 P1
35 82 Rod Graham Ducati / Misano Design 01:23:00.414 81.817 P1
36 71 Ian Michael Thompson* Honda / MB Racing 01:24:35.516 80.284 P2
37 74 Arthur Jones Honda / J.A.Jones Engineering 55:02.307 82.262 P2