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  1. MIchael Dunlop will be awarded the Joey Dunlop TT Championship Trophy thanks to his four incredible wins so far at the 2013 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy.

    With wins in the Dainese Superbike, both Monster Energy Supersport races and the Royal London 360 Superstock race, the 24 year old Dunlop has an unassailable lead in the 2013 TT Championshiop. The Ballymoney man has achieved all this before the blue riband race, the PokerStars Senior TT, which is due to take place on Friday 7th June.

    The Joey Dunlop Trophy is awarded to the overall champion, based on a World Championship points system, across the Solo classes, excluding the SES TT Zero and Bikesocial.co.uk Lightweight races. Having already accumulated the maximum possible 100 points after only four of the five races, Michael Dunlop will receive the trophy and £10,000 prize money. However, second and third positions are still to be decided and with a wide range of other riders sharing the podium with Dunlop, a number of the leading riders are still in the running to finish runner-up.

    John McGuinness tops the chasing pack with a total of 61 points after achieving his 40th podium position in Wednesday's Monster Energy Supersport Race 2. His grand total of podiums equals that of the TT wins record-holder and McGuinness' hero, Joey Dunlop. Bruce Anstey is only 2 points behind the Morecambe rider in the Championship points with 59 points after top ten finishes in all four races to date including two podiums. William Dunlop, James Hillier, Cameron Donald and Dean Harrison also still have a mathematical chance of finishing second.

    The Privateers Championship on the other hand is still very much up for grabs. Steve Mercer is the current leader with 50 points but is closely followed in the table by Lee Johnston with 49 points and Dan Kneen and Ben Wylie, who are both on 44 points. Dan Cooper, Robert Wilson, Rob Barber and Davy Morgan all still have a chance of finishing top in the battle to be top privateer.

  2. England cricket legend Darren Gough completed a key chapter in his summer of Bennetts Biking Dream Challenges yesterday after fulfilling a lifetime dream to experience the thrill of the Isle of Man TT.

    Gough was given the ultimate ‘access all areas’ TT experience, the highlight being to ride a lap of the famous 37 ¾ mile Mountain Course under the guidance of TT star ‘Milky’ Quayle. To cap it off, Gough got up close to the Superbike TT race with a grid walk, a place at the very best race vantage point at the bottom of Bray Hill, and a ‘closed lap’ of the Mountain Course in the official course inspection car.

    Gough’s weekend was organised by Bennetts, the UK’s No.1 Bike Insurance Specialist, who are also an official sponsor of the Isle of Man TT. His TT experience is part of a series of Biking Dream Challenges which have been set up for him by Bennetts this summer after discovering that Gough harboured a dream to learn to ride different types of motorcycle.

    Having undertaken further bike training with the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and out on the TT track on a sports bike, Gough will soon take on his next challenge on an altogether different type of motorcycle.

    Reflecting on his TT experience, Gough, said: “I’ve always been a fan of watching sports bikes but it’s always been BSB, WSB and MotoGP. To come here and take in the TT has been amazing. I take my hat off to these guys. You can imagine that’s what motorcycle racing was like 100 years ago - just pure skill and guts.”

    Hannah Squirrell, Bennetts Marketing & Ecommerce Director said, “The Isle of Man TT is a completely unique event and we are extremely proud to support it, so when we heard of Darren’s Biking Dream, we knew we could help him fulfil it.  He is an excellent ambassador for motorcycling and we’re glad he is able to spread a positive message.”

  3. Institute of Advanced Motorists director of policy and research Neil Greig said: "This is a major change in traffic law enforcement and the IAM is concerned that issuing fixed penalty tickets for careless driving downplays the seriousness of the offence.

    Careless covers a wide range of poor to reckless driving behaviour that often merits further investigation. 

    "This could free up traffic police time and allow them to maintain a higher profile. But without traffic cops out on the road to enforce this new approach it will have little impact on road safety."

  4. For the second time at the 2013 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy, the Sure Formula Two sidecar event saw debut winners with former World Champions Ben and Tom Birchall leading from start to finish to take their first victory around the Mountain Course.

    Having been forced to retire from Saturday’s three-lap encounter when leading, the Nottinghamshire brothers made no mistakes this time around and took a 17.3s victory from Dave Molyneux/Patrick Farrance with Conrad Harrison/Mike Aylott having to settle for third on this occasion.

    The Birchalls signalled their intentions from the start moving into a two-second lead at Glen Helen on the opening lap, with first race winners Tim Reeves/Dan Sayle slotting into second and Harrison a further one and half seconds back in third. Molyneux lay in fourth from John Holden/Andy Winkle and Gary Bryan/Jamie Winn.

    There was no change at the top of the order over the remainder of the lap and a lap of 114.490mph gave the Birchalls a 10.7s lead over Reeves/Sayle with Molyneux/Farrance now moving up to third. Harrison/Aylott slipped back to fourth with Holden/Winkle and Bryan/Winn still in fifth and sixth.

    Circulating ahead of Reeves/Sayle on the roads, the Birchalls extended their lead to 11.5s at Glen Helen on the second lap and that soon increased when the first race winners were forced to retire at Ballaugh. That promoted Molyneux/Farrance and Harrison/Aylott up into the podium places with Holden up to fourth and Dougie Wright/Martin Hull now getting the better of Bryan/Winn for fifth.

    The Birchalls second lap was their personal best at 114.662 and although Molyneux/Farrance also lapped in excess of 114mph, they were now 16s behind. However, they were a similar distance clear of Harrison/Aylott with the top six remaining the same.

    On the final lap, the Birchalls were able to maintain their advantage over Molyneux/Farrance and they took a superb victory thus following in the footsteps of Reeves in adding a TT victory to their World Championship success of 2009.

    Harrison/Aylott took their fifth TT podium together with Holden/Winkle comfortable in fourth. Wright/Hull retired at Kirk Michael on the final lap and so Bryan/Winn took fifth with Gary/Dan Knight wrapping up their excellent TT campaign with sixth. Frank Lelias/Charlie Richardson did likewise in seventh with Wayne Lockey/Luke Capewell in eighth ahead of Dean Banks/Ken Edwards and Mick Donovan/Aaron Galligan, all of them achieving their best TT results.