SENIOR TT
A packed trackside crowd was treated
to one of the greatest races in the TT’s
long history as Peter Hickman won a
sensational PokerStars Senior TT when
he set a new outright lap record of
135.452mph on the final lap to defeat
Dean Harrison by just two seconds
Harrison had led the race for five and
a half of the six laps, but Hickman reeled
him on the sixth lap and, having been
quicker over the Mountain all race, he
turned a 3.7s deficit at Glen Helen into
a lead of 0.8s at the Bungalow and he
smashed the race record by 48.064s to
take his second win. Harrison took second
with Conor Cummins in third.
After the race Hickman paid respect
to Harrison and revealed that he had
targeted the Mountain section of the
Course as an opportunity to make up time,
“I knew that Dean was going to be fast but
I’d always been strong on the Mountain
section throughout the week. It’s a bit like
a short circuit and I came into my own
70 KIWI RIDER
HICKMAN
on it. I thought if I was within five or six
seconds on the last lap I could have a go
over the Mountain.”
Harrison led Hickman by 1.2s through
Glen Helen on the opening lap with Dunlop
a further second back in third as Hillier,
Cummins and David Johnson completed
the top six and by Ramsey, the Kawasaki
rider had doubled his advantage to 2.4s.
Dunlop remained in third but was some
8.4s behind Hickman. Hillier’s strong
week ended though with a retirement at
Westwood.
Cummins led on the road with a lap of
131.754mph but it was Harrison who
led with a lap of 133.678mph. However,
Hickman was only 1.4s behind although
Dunlop’s challenge looked to be already
over as he was almost 13 seconds behind.
Cummins, David Johnson and Josh Brookes
completed the top six but David Johnson
pulled into the pits to retire, promoting
namesake Gary Johnson into sixth.
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