After suffering multiple breakdowns on the troubled Norton Rotary and his Supersport bike at the TT, Michael Dunlop was in the dumps. So his sponsor popped out and bought him a race-ready R1.

Dunlop said: “I was sitting in the pub, totally fed up, talking to my sponsor Gary Ryan of Street Sweep.

"He said I was ready for a superbike, I agreed with him and said yes for next year.”

But Ryan had a shorter timeframe in mind. He got up the following morning wandered into the race paddock and bought Dunlop an ex-Alastair Seeley Yamaha R1.

He then wheeled the £20,000 bike into the garage and told Michael that it was his new bike.

Nice.