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Honda riders occupy top 4 places in Joey
Dunlop TT Championship Trophy as Ian Hutchinson builds an almost
unassailable lead
- Only four riders can catch the Bingley flier in the race for
the overall title and £10,000 prize
Padgetts Racing Honda rider Ian Hutchinson has built a
commanding lead in the inaugural TT championship points table.
Hutchinson, who has topped the table since the first Relentless
Supersport, has 74 points and is guaranteed the outright 2009
solo title if he finishes in the top six in the Pokerstars
Senior TT.
With only one race to go, only Steve Plater (59 points), Guy
Martin (56 points) and John McGuinness (54 points) can overhaul
the Yorkshireman and claim the Joey Dunlop TT Championship
trophy and they will be relying on him not finishing the
Pokerstars Senior TT on Friday 12th June. If McGuinness wins,
Hutchinson can still finish 13th and claim the title by virtue
of countback.
Of the rest of the riders only veteran Ian Lougher and Gary
Johnson have completed all four races in the top 15 and are
fifth and eighth respectively in the overall table. A total of
eight different riders have featured on the podium in the four
races to date, despite the fact that the Relentless Supersport 1
and Royal London 360 Superstock races finished with an identical
first three.
The leaderboard features a total of 28 riders on the overall
table who have finished at in the top fifteen in at least one
race, testament to the depth of field in the 2009 TT races.
Adrian Archibald leads the chase for the Martin Finnegan Trophy,
a solid bronze replica of the Irishman’s Arai RX7 helmet. The
trophy, awarded to the Irishman who records the fastest lap
during race week, has been donated by the Martin Finnegan
Supporters Club as a tribute to the legendary Irish racer and
will be eagerly contested between Ryan Farquhar and Adrian
Archibald. It will be awarded together with a prize fund of
€1000 Euros and a brand new Arai helmet.
Archibald’s final lap in the Dainese Superbike race, when he
recorded a speed of 128.883mph tops Ryan Farquhar’s lap of
127.651mph, which he recorded on the first lap of the Royal
London 360 Superstock. Michael Dunlop, the third fastest
Irishman with a speed of 125.077mph set during the second
Relentless Supersport 2 race, will be out in the Senior on his
R1 Yamaha as the Norton has not qualified for the Senior and has
an outside chance of toppling Archibald although he will need to
improve his personal best lap of the Mountain Course by some
considerable distance if he is to do so.
With the Sure sidecar race 2 cancelled following the incident at
Ballacobb in Wednesday’s race, Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle have
taken the overall title and £5000 prize by virtue of their
victory in the first Sure Sidecar race.
Simon Crellin
TT2009 press office
CHAMPIONSHIP
POINTS TABLEpdf |
