Current Isle of Man Senior TT Champion Michael Dunlop has sensationally walked out of his Milwaukee Yamaha team and will instead compete on a BMW S 1000 RR machine in the Superbike, Senior and Superstock TTs.
11 time TT victor Dunlop has struggled to get on the pace of Bruce Anstey, Guy Martin and John McGuinness so far in practice and sat down in 13th place with a lap of 124.519mph after Wednesday’s practice session in the Yamaha R1M’s TT debut and now faces an uphill battle to be on race-winning speed for the Superbike TT this coming Saturday, June 6.
“I would like to thank Milwaukee Yamaha for their support in bringing me into their team and I am genuinely sorry to be making this decision but unfortunately I don’t think there is enough time left with the sessions we’ve already lost at the TT to be truly competitive and get the bike to the level we need to in order to win races here,” Dunlop said.
Following Dunlop’s decision, made after only three laps of the TT circuit at the 2015 event, Milwaukee Yamaha released the following statement.
“Milwaukee Yamaha has today (Thursday), released Michael Dunlop from his contract with immediate effect.
“Milwaukee Yamaha, its staff and sponsors have worked tirelessly to prepare a race winning package especially with the introduction of the new R1M. The development of the bike is advancing well testament to results on the short circuit worldwide.
“Despite having all the ingredients for TT success, rider, bike and team, Michael has taken the decision not to continue with the programe and for that reason we have released him from his contract.
“Milwaukee Yamaha will continue to focus on its MCE British Superbike Championship campaign.”
