Tyco BMW rider Ian Hutchinson has taken the first victory of the TT week. Race week seemingly hung in the balance as bad weather conditions had hampered a number of sessions during practice week. But the weather cleared for the opening race, and Hutchinson had set his sights on the victory.
He took the lead on the fourth lap, but came under pressure from Smiths BMW rider Peter Hickman, who was constantly picking up time on the Bingley bullet. But a strong pit stop from the Tyco team (55 seconds compared to Hickman’s 1 minute) gave Hutchinson the edge. In the early stages, it was Dean Harrison who was ramping up the pressure on Hutchy, and the pair were constantly swapping the lead until Harrison dropped back into third.
Honda’s Guy Martin is returning to the TT after a break but unfortunately didn’t make it to the end, as he fell at Doran’s. Fortunately, he was okay. Michael Dunlop and Dean Harrison were swapping the lead in the early laps, but Dunlop was forced to retire at Handley’s on lap two. Bruce Anstey also ran into trouble on his Honda RCV and was forced to pull over, looking at his back tyre in the process. Luckily. he managed to sort out whatever his issue was and get back out.
A fantastic performance from the Norton duo of David Johnson and Josh Brookes, who finished in 7th and 8th respectively.
When all was said and done, Ian Hutchinson took his 15th TT win, ahead of Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison.
Top 10 Superbike results:
- Ian Hutchinson – Tyco BMW
- Peter Hickman – Smiths BMW
- Dean Harrison – Sillicone Engineering Kawasaki
- James Hillier – JG Speedfit Kawasaki
- Dan Kneen – Penz13.com BMW
- Michael Rutter – Bathams BMW
- David Johnson – Norton
- Josh Brookes – Norton
- William Dunlop – Temple Golf Yamaha
- Martin Jessopp – RidersMotorcycles.com BMW
