IOM TT: Gary Johnson scores debut win in Supersport class

IOM Thurs Jun 9th: Gary Johnson achieved his first Isle of Man TT Races victory when he clinched the second Monster Energy Supersport race on Thursday afternoon winning by 8.4s from fellow Honda rider John McGuinness.

Johnson was in control throughout the race, leading from start to finish. He was already three seconds clear of McGuinness by the first checkpoint at Glen Helen on the opening lap, a lead he’d amazingly trebled by the time the riders swept through Ramsey Hairpin. Race favourite Michael Dunlop was already out though, the Street Sweep Yamaha rider having stopped at Ballacraine although he later proceeded after making lengthy adjustments, his opening lap almost 46 minutes!

An opening lap of 125.587mph gave Johnson the lead though and the Lincolnshire rider had a gap of almost ten seconds but the battle for second was extremely close, with McGuinness, Martin, Donald, Bruce Anstey and Dan Kneen separated by just six seconds.

Johnson continued to extend his lead and he went quicker still on his second circuit of the Mountain Course, a lap of 125.892mph putting him 15 seconds clear of McGuinness, an almost unprecedented margin in the Supersport class. Donald was the man on the move though, the Australian relegating Martin to fourth with Kneen was also moving up the leaderboard, the Marks Bloom Racing Yamaha man overhauling Anstey for fifth.

As the leaders made their pit stops, news from Ramsey Hairpin came through that the red flag was being shown with a number of riders stopping including David Hewson, Dan Cooper, Bill Callister and David Madsen-Mygdal but there was no word from race control of any issue and the race at the front continued, the riders who stopped eventually getting going, later to be credited the time lost.

McGuinness and Johnson were pressing ahead but Martin had now dropped time and,after being only half a second down on Donald at the end of lap,that lead had stretched to 10 seconds at Glen Helen, later revealed to be due to having seen a red flag as he swept through Union Mills. Indeed, at Glen Helen, the order was Johnson, Donald, McGuinness, Martin and Kneen, Johnson’s lead now standing at 10.9s, four ahead of McGuinness with Martin now 8s further back in fourth.

Going into the final lap and Johnson maintainedan 11s advantage over Donald who was now edging away from McGuinness who was circulating on his own at the head of the field. Kneen was out at Crosby, a cruel end to a fine ride, whilst Donald nibbled away at Johnson’s lead throughout the lap but his Honda expired at Signpost, less than 2 miles from home. That enabled McGuinness to move up to second with Martin, Amor and Anstey all promoted up the order to 3rd, 4th and 5th. There was double heartbreak for the Wilson Craig Honda team with William Dunlop dropping out of 8th in the closing stages, his engine also having expired.

The late flurry of retirements allowed Conor Cummins to move up to sixth, his best finish of this year’s TT, with Ben Wylie having his best ever TT finish in seventh, again the first Privateer to finish. Roy Richardson, James Hillier and Mark Buckley completed the top ten with a superb ride coming from newcomer Dean Harrison in 12th place.

The results mean that McGuinness now has 76pts at the top of the TT Championship, 17 clear of Amor, whilst Ian Mackman’s retirement means its closed up in the battle for the Privateers Championship. He remains on 61 points with Wylie on 50 and Buckley on 49.

Sidecar Race 2

Holden/Winkle win their first TT Race in Sure Sidecar Race 2

John Holden and Andy Winkle won their first Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy on Thursday when they took the second 3-lap Sure Sidecar race 2 after long time leaders Klaus Klaffenbock and Daniel Sayle hit problems on the final lap. The Austrian ex-World Champion held a 17 second lead starting the third and final lap but he slowed dramatically and Holden and Winkle took full advantage. After five runner-up spots, they finally took a dream TT win, some 45 seconds clear of Conrad Harrison and Mike Aylott who claimed a best ever second and, in a race of firsts, Tony Elmer and Darren Marshall took a debut TT podium.

It was Klaffenbock and Sayle who, as with Saturday’s first race, set off quickest and it was they who led through Glen Helen on the opening lap by 3.5s from Holden and Winkle with Harrison/Aylott a further four seconds back in third. Elmer and Marshall were up to fourth with Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze back in fifth. Early retirements included the veteran pairing of Roy Hanks/Dave Wells and Greg lambert/Aaron Galligan.

That was of little concern to Klaffenbock though and at Ramsey, his lead had grown, albeit slightly, to 4.4s, but he really motored over the Mountain to overhaul Holden on the road. Harrison, Elmer and Reeves continued to occupy the top five with the Birchall brothers up to sixth but at the end of the first lap, a speed of 114.047mph gave Klaffenbock a 11.38s lead over Holden whilst Harrison held an 8.5s gap over Elmer, Reeves failing to make an impression in fifth.

On the second lap, Klaffenbock again lapped quicker than Holden, his speed 114.672mph, and had extended his lead to 16.94s, the top six remaining the same with Elmer, Reeves and Birchall all lapping within 2s of each other and in excess of 111mph.

At Glen Helen, Klaffenbock’s lead was still 15.9s and the race seemingly in the bag but by Ramsey, the gap was down to just 6 seconds and when they went up the Mountain, Holden and Winkle were able to retake the lead on the road and on time, their advantage at the Bungalow a whopping 22 seconds. Klaffenbock was slowing with a broken water hose clip and eventually limped home in sixth place, their final lap a lowly 103.953mph, but Holden and Winkle finally took their debut TT win, a victory one of the most popular ever on the Island.

Harrison and Aylott were delighted to be in second with Elmer and Marshall equally happy as they took the final podium spot from Reeves and Cluze by just 0.81s! The Birchalls enjoyed their best ever TT finish in 5th with the top ten completed by Klaffenbock, Gary Bryan/Jamie Winn, Douglas Wright/Martin Hull, Rob Handcock/Ken Edwards and Carl Fenwick/Mark Sayers, the latter again comfortably the best of the newcomers, their final lap being a superb 107.839mph.