After 2 weeks of glorious sunshine on the Isle of Man – coupled with lap records falling across all classes, almost daily, the stage was set for an epic PokerStars Senior TT.
Michael Dunlop was almost late for the start, in typical Michael Dunlop style – so nothing to worry about there. Dean Harrison started off with the same pace he has shown all week – warp speed! Peter Hickman decided warp speed was the gear for him too and the stage was set for an awesome battle between these two.
Conor Cummings was the first man on the road and he pushed hard throughout coming out the other side with a 3rd place finish and an amazing result for the #padgettsarmy
James Hillier suffered a catastrophic incident on the first lap which resulted in his bike dumping it’s oil all over the course. Michael Rutter was the first rider through the incident, followed by Michael Dunlop. Neither rider really seemed to recover from it nor the four laps of waved yellow flag that resulted.
Of course that comment is open to debate – so I’ll leave that to Facebook.
The flags unfortunately continued to wave for 4 laps so must have had an impact on the lap timings however the pace was still blinding.
Once those flags stopped though the pace went from blinding to simply unbelievable. With lap 1 being a standing start, lap 2 being a pit in, lap 3 starting from the pits, lap 4 being a pit in, lap 5 starting from the pits – that meant lap 6 is the only true flying lap.
By this stage Dean Harrison was still leading, Peter Hickman was snapping at his heals, Conor Cummings was keeping it tight for third position, Michael Dunlop was sitting fourth and Josh Brookes was pushing the Norton from sixth towards fifth.
The last 2 laps were setting up to be something special. They were something special. It went from Deano leading by about 2 seconds to just over 4 then Hicky had it by 0.8 seconds and then taking the win by 2 seconds. The maths behind it is staggering.
The much debated hot topic of a 135mph lap – and would it happen was on everyone’s mind – it happened!
Initially Deano crossed the line with a new overall lap record, about 30 seconds later that lap time was smashed!
Deano @deanharrisonTT crosses the line 134.918mph – an absolute lap record WOW,
— 🏍TomBoyNI™ 🏍 🎮 (@TomBoyNI) June 8, 2018
Hicky crosses the line crosses the line as the winner #iomtt #iomtt2018 #IsleofManTT
— 🏍TomBoyNI™ 🏍 🎮 (@TomBoyNI) June 8, 2018
135.452mph – Hicky is the fastest road racer in the world. Amazing lap. @peterhickman #iomtt #iomtt2018 #IsleofManTT pic.twitter.com/FMF1wMOGzE
— 🏍TomBoyNI™ 🏍 🎮 (@TomBoyNI) June 8, 2018
Remember the maths I mentioned? Read this then just think about it…
Hicky @peterhickman60 takes a Senior race record by over 48 seconds – 1hr 43mins 8.065s – an absolute lap record of 135.452mph – the difference between 1st and 2nd a mere 2 seconds over 226.38 miles! @iomtt #iomtt2018 #iomtt18 #IsleOfManTT pic.twitter.com/NPalkDOovv
— 🏍TomBoyNI™ 🏍 🎮 (@TomBoyNI) June 8, 2018
An amazing race – an amazing performance from everyone. Everyone who entered that race deserves huge amounts of credit, Davey Todd finishing 9th as a newcomer is simply a stunning result! The Norton tasking 5th is another. Hutchy getting on a bike is a miracle! Far too many examples to mention, so everyone – well done!
Thank you also to the Clerk of the Course, his staff, all volunteers, the Marshals, medics, sponsors, spectators and true fans, Manx Radio TT, the Isle of Man and her residents – thank you and see you all next year!
You can find the lap by lap breakdown of the 2018 RST Superbike race here : https://www.iomtt.com/~/media/Files/2018/Results/race/0806/Lap-by-Lap-PokerStars-Senior-TT.pdf
In memory :
