JOEY DUNLOP extended his winning record in the Isle of Man TT races to 20 yesterday. The 44-year-old Ballymoney publican powered his 250cc Honda to victory in the four-lap lightweight race ahead of Jim Moodie.

Dunlop held off a last-lap challenge by the Scot to win by 5.7 seconds after 150.92 miles of frantic action.

"The last victory was just as hard to achieve as the first," he said. "The last lap was a bit of a struggle, I was worried I would not have enough fuel and was trying to save it. Then I got a signal saying that Moodie was catching me so I went as hard as I could into Ramsey on the final lap to keep ahead of him," said Dunlop after completing a hat-trick of victories in the 250cc lightweight TT.

Dunlop had been presented with an award to mark his 19 victories the previous evening. "I told them then it would be out of date pretty quickly," said Dunlop, who could add to his score as he has two further races in this year's festival.

In the early stages of the race, Dunlop was under pressure from fellow Ulsterman Phil McCallen, but his hopes of victory ended with exhaust problems on the third lap and an eventual fourth place. Moodie took up the running then, closing dramatically on Dunlop.

"I lost several seconds when I was baulked by backmarkers and was giving it everything I could. I thought I could catch him and had everything in control, but he just held on to it," said Moodie, who was highly delighted having signed a last-minute deal to race. "Considering I didn't have a ride at the start of practice week, this is a very good result for me," he said.