William Dunlop has been ruled out of the rest of the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races after crashing on the approach to Laurel Bank during Monday morning's Superstock one-lap practice session. The Ballymoney rider was fortunate to escape with just a broken rib in his back and heavy bruising when he went down on the first right hander on the BMW S1000R and is now on his way back home.

 Tyco team boss Philip Neill expressed his disappointment but was also grateful that Dunlop's injuries were not a lot worse given both the speed of the crash and the place where it happened, where a jagged rock face lines the corner.
 
"First of all, we're all incredibly grateful that William got away relatively unscathed from the crash, given the speed he was travelling and that where he went down is lined with a rock face. From what we've seen from the on-baord video he just missed the rocks and hit the bank a bit further down instead but it was a heavy spill and to get just a broken rib is quite miraculous," said Neill, speaking to bikesportnews.com
 
"We're all obviously disappointed that William's out of the event but he's more disappointed in himself than anything else. Both William and the team had been working hard and after a promising first year with us, he was really gelling with the BMW particularly the Superstock bike. We'd made a few changes for today's practice lap and William said the bike was better  but also admitted he may have been a bit over confident and trying too hard.
 
"We won't know until we download the data but he could have been carrying a bit more speed than previous laps so approached the right-left combination of corners quicker than before. That could explain why he crashed but it's just one of those things. We're grateful he's ok and he's on his way home now as there's no point hanging around or trying to be a hero when he's only 50-60% fit."