Ian Hutchinson made it two wins in the
day when he won a sensational Royal London 360? Superstock
race on his Padgetts Honda, defeating Guy Martin by
8.77 seconds. That doesn’t tell the whole story
though and for the majority of the race the race lead
was never more than one second with the first lap alone
seeing four different leaders whilst the lap record
was smashed repeatedly. The race also saw Jenny Tinmouth
become the fastest female ever to have lapped the Mountain
Course when she lapped at 116.483mph on her final lap,
beating Maria Costello’s 2004 lap by 17.72 seconds.
It looked like Martin was going to take his first ever
TT win when he led by 3 seconds at Glen Helen on the
third lap but by the end of the lap his lead had been
whittled down to an almost unbelievable 0.04seconds!
Hutchinson had lost time at his pit stop when the filler
cap wouldn’t go in but he absolutely flew on the
last lap and, having broken the lap record on the second
lap, he smashed it even further on the final lap with
a speed of 129.746mph. Martin had to settle for second
once more and Keith Amor took third to make it an identical
1-2-3 to the earlier Supersport race.
The 6.30pm start meant that cooler conditions were
very much the order of the day but they were ideal for
racing and it was Amor on his Wilson Craig Honda who
set the initial pace, leading at Glen Helen on the first
lap albeit by just one second. John McGuinness was in
second just ahead of Padgetts team-mate Hutchinson and
Conor Cummins on the McAdoo Kawasaki but pre-race favourites
Bruce Anstey and Guy Martin were down in 8th and 9th
respectively.
As the field completed their first lap, McGuinness
had seized the lead from Hutchinson and Amor with Martin
charging up to fourth. Anstey pulled in though to compound
a truly miserable day with Michael Dunlop also an early
retirement, adding to his earlier DNF in the Supersport
when he stopped at Snugborough.
The difference between the top 4 was only 2.39 seconds
but as they approached half distance the race was turning
in to a two-way fight between Hutchinson and Martin.
The Yorkshire rider had a two-second lead as they came
in to refuel, both riders having smashed the lap record.
McGuinness was suffering from tyre problems though and
had a major slide at Greeba Bridge, his charge dented
as he slipped back to 4th. Ryan Farquhar was out of
luck once more, retiring at Cronk ny Mona on the second
lap.
Hutchinson’s pit-stop problems meant Martin took
over once more, his lead now 3 seconds, with Amor continuing
to hold station in third although it was now Steve Plater
up to fourth as McGuinness slipped further back. By
Ramsey, Martin’s lead was just 0.3 seconds as
Hutchinson really began to charge and they were almost
dead level as they started their final lap, the gap
just 0.05seconds after 113 miles of racing!
The race was very much on the knife edge, and one of
the best ever witnessed at the TT, but Hutchinson was
proving unstoppable and an amazing final lap of 129.746mph
saw him take both the win and the lap record, his third
TT win in total. Martin had to settle for the bridesmaid
spot once more with Amor in third with a near 129mph
lap.
Plater and McGuinness took fourth and fifth for the
Padgetts team, Hondas again filling the top five positions,
with Conor Cummins having a good ride into sixth. The
top ten was completed by Gary Johnson, Carl Rennie and
Daniel Kneen, again performing brilliantly, in tenth.
|
