Buildbase BMW’s Michael Dunlop is stiff and sore after his last-lap crash at The Nook during today’s RST Superbike race but believes he had the pace to win had his pitstops not been too long.

Dunlop lost 23 seconds over the two stops but was charging on the last two laps, cutting the gap to leaders Bruce Anstey and Ian Hutchinson. But it wasn’t to be as he got tangled up with a backmarker.

“I’m alright, stiff and sore but I’m OK. We weren’t too far behind at the end, we lost a bit of time in the pits and if we hadn’t I think we could have won the race. The bike is very good, fair play to Stuart Hicken as he’s built these engines himself,” said Dunlop.

“Last year we had engines from the factory but we’ve not got that this year so thanks to Stuart and Steve. This would put us in a good position for the rest of the week if I wasn’t in so much pain. Now we’ll have to wait and see.”