Ian Hutchinson’s dominance of the
2010 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy
continued on Monday afternoon when he took a nail
biting victory in the 4-lap royal London 360
Superstock race, his third win in as many races, to
join a select band of racers who have won three in a
week. With two races still to come he could even
threaten the visiting Phillip McCallen’s four in a
week on the Isle of Man.
The Padgetts Honda rider came in
to the final lap 5.54s adrift of long time race
leader Ryan Farquhar but a record breaking lap of
130.741mph saw him edge out the KMR Kawasaki rider
by the tiny margin of 1.32s. The Northern Irishman
just missed out on a 130mph+ lap but was comfortably
clear of third placed Conor Cummins, who made it two
Kawasaki’s in the top three.
With the Island basking in
warm sunshine once more, conditions were absolutely
ideal around the Mountain Course and it was Farquhar
who set off quickest, the Dungannon rider holding on
to a slender 0.24s lead from Michael Dunlop with
Keith Amor in third and Hutchinson, Cummins and
Cameron Donald completing the top six. It was
incredibly close though with 1.5s covering the top 5
and only 4.5s between the top ten!
Farquhar was flying on the
opening lap, extending his advantage at all the
timing points, and a first lap speed of 129.648mph
gave him a 6.78s lead over Dunlop with Hutchinson
now up to third ahead of Cummins and Amor, John
McGuinness holding on to sixth. Leading contenders
Dan Stewart and Carl Rennie were both out of luck
though, the duo retiring at the end of the first
lap.
Farquhar and Hutchinson were
pulling away from the chasing pack on the second lap
and the Kawasaki rider was the first to break the
old lap record with a brilliant lap of 129.816mph
and this saw him edge further away from Hutchinson,
the gap 8.8s as they came into refuel. Dunlop had
been relegated to fourth though and he lost further
time as he changed his rear tyre at the pit stop,
dropping him all the way down to 11th.
Hutchinson had the quickest
pit stop and led the race for the first time as the
riders left the pits but by Glen Helen, 34-year old
Farquhar was back in front to the tune of 1.4s and
it was going to be a straight fight over the final
two laps. Cummins was only eight seconds further
back in third with McGuinness, Amor and Guy Martin
now occupying the top six positions. Dunlop was
fighting his way back and was gradually inching his
way up the leaderboard.
By Ramsey Hairpin, Farquhar
was over four seconds clear and this became 5.54s as
the pair went into their final lap – and it was here
when Hutchinson made his charge. The gap stayed the
same at Glen Helen but Hutchinson had halved this by
the time they jumped Ballaugh Bridge, and at Ramsey
Hairpin for the final time it was only 1.82s. In all
three races held so far, Hutchinson has been the
quickest rider over the Mountain but Farquhar was up
for the fight and rode harder than he’d ever done
before only to fall short by the smallest margin.
Hutchinson’s final lap of
130.741mph was the first 130mph lap recorded by a
Superstock machine and, despite Farquhar setting his
best ever lap of the Mountain Course at 129.883mph,
he fell short by an agonising 1.32s. Nevertheless,
it was his first podium finish at the TT since 2008
and there was further celebration for Kawasaki with
Cummins coming home in a strong third and going some
way to make up for his disappointment on Saturday,
when he retired whilst leading the Superbike race.
Behind, McGuinness maintained
his fourth place all the way to the chequered flag
whilst Martin got the better of Amor for fifth,
albeit by just two tenths of a second. Ian Lougher
took a fine seventh with a determined Michael Dunlop
fighting his way back up to 8th and
Michael Rutter and Adrian Archibald completing the
top ten.
James McBride was the best of
the Privateers in 14th place, three
places ahead of Portuguese star Luis Carreira with
Stefano Bonetti the next highest placed in 19th.
McBride has now jumped up to the top of the table,
the Kettering rider having 49pts and holding onto a
13-point lead over Stephen Oates and Davy Morgan,
the pair sharing second on 36 points.
In the battle for the best
Newcomer, David Johnson was again the highest placed
in 28th place, lapping at 122.312mph,
with Hudson Kennaugh, Brian McCormack and Stephen
Thompson in 33rd, 34th and 35th
- all three also breaking the 120mph barrier for the
first time. Meanwhile, Jenny Tinmouth again set a
new personal best lap and a speed of 116.993mph
firmly cements her place as the fastest female to
have lapped the Mountain Course.