Michael Dunlop addresses chasing uncle Joey’s record at the Isle of Man TT
His 21 previous race wins at t🧸he event are five short of🧸 his iconic uncle Joey Dunlop’s tally.
Joey lꦗost his life in a racing accident 23 years ago but the fam♌ily name lives on through Michael.
"If 🍌you're a road racer, your biggest goal is the TT, the Olympic gold medal," Michael said.
Asked about his uncle’s record which h𝓰e is chas𓆉ing down, he replied: "I don't really think about it.
"My era is different than Joey's. I'm not looking at goals or overall 🌼wins, there's not a number I'm looking for.
"You're only as good as your last race. Once you perform at the TT people want you an🍌d if they don't perform at the TT they don't want you, it's the only reason why I💧'm still in a job.
"Each win has been good for a different re🐬ason, what we've maybe had to go through to do i🅰t.
"While I've still got the know-how to win races I'll keep coming [to the TT] and if I get🌺 to the stage I don't think I can ಞwin I won't come.
"It's a place that throws so many spanners in the works. You can h💛ave a good year or ꦦa bad one."
Michael Dunlop has won TT races with six different manufacturers and, this year, will race on a Hawk Racing🍃 Honda Superbike,𒊎 an MD Racing Honda Superstock and Supersport Yamaha, and a Paton.
His surname is legendary in these circles. His late father 🎐Robert won five races at the TT, and his brother William competed until dying five years ago in a road racing accident.
"I learned from heritage. I learned from and go by the way my da🥂d did it, the✱ way Joey did it," explained Dunlop.
"I'm the last of the pure🐈 breed road racers, apart frꦕom a couple of lads from home.
"Tܫhere's nobody else coming from Ireland any more and winning TTs and everyone is an athlete noᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚw which is hard because I'm not an advertisement for an athlete.
"It maybe annoys some people that I 🍸don't race as 🧜much but can still rock up at the TT and win races.
"At the end of the day w𝓡e do a lot of it ourselves, whereas a lot of the big teams are heavily financed."
James was a sports journalist at Skꩵy Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to fo💃otball, to F1.
