Bruce Anstey wins F1 Classic TT on YZR500 | Ian Lougher records second win with F2 victory
Bruce Anstey, riding the the two stroke Valvolene by Padgetts Racing YZR Yamaha, powered to a stunning victory in today’s Motorsport Merchandise Formula 1 Classic TT Race on the Isle of Man, making history on the way.
As well as establishing a lap record of 123.894mph (18:16.324) for the F1 class, Anstey’s time was also the fastest ever two stroke lap of the TT Mountain Course, breaking Ian Lougher’s record set on a 500 V-twin Honda in the 1999 Senior TT. Anstey dominated the race from the start and eventually won by over a minute from James Hillier with Russ Mountford securing the final podium place.
Clerk of the Course Phil Taubman described conditions as perfect around the Mountain Course ahead of the Race, part of the Isle of Man Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts, which got away at 14.45.
Michael Dunlop, the 2013 race winner and lap record holder, was first away from the start line on the Team Classic Suzuki XR69 but Anstey had established a three second lead over Jackson Racing’s James Hillier, on the ZXR 750 Kawasaki by the first timing point at Glen Helen with Dunlop completing the top three less than half a second behind Mountford. Team York Suzuki Racing’s Russ Mountford, on another XR69, was less than a second behind Dunlop in fourth with Gary Johnson on the ’85 Harris completing the top five.
Anstey’s record breaking opening lap of 123.894 gave him a lead of 15 seconds over Dunlop who opened with 122.152 but it was all change at the end of the first lap with both Anstey and Dunlop opting to refuel.
Hillier and Steve Mercer on the Mistral Racing Kawasaki chose to go straight through, with Hillier leading Mercer by 17 seconds at Glen Helen on the second lap with Anstey almost six seconds behind Mercer in third following his pit stop. It was clear that Michael Dunlop was losing time on the second lap and by Ramsey Anstey had passed the Irishman on the road.
Hillier remained in the lead at the end of the second lap but with the Mistral Racing Man pitting at the end of the lap, Anstey moved back into the lead and with Michael Dunlop retiring in the pits at the end of his second lap, Anstey was firmly in control of the race. The Kiwi established a 53 second lead from Hillier at Glen Helen on the final lap and brought the YZR Yamaha home to win by over a minute from Hillier with Mountford a further nine seconds back in third.
Hillier had the consolation of winning the inaugural Joey Dunlop trophy as the first 750 machine with Russ Mountford confirmed in the final podium place. Anstey appropriately received his trophy from fellow Kiwi Graeme Crosby, the 1981 F1 TT Race winner. Kiaran Hankin, riding the KHHire RC30, was the first privateer to finish, coming home in seventh.
Yamaha’s dominated the F2 Race that ran concurrently with Ian Lougher’s opening lap of 107.999 giving the Welshman, who won Saturday’s Bennetts 500cc Race, a seven second lead over Chris Moore with Stuart Garton a further 3.5 seconds back in third. Yamahas occupied nine of the top ten places on the opening lap with only Derek Glass on a Kawasaki in eighth breaking the monopoly.
With Lougher pitting at the end of the first lap Moore moved to the front but with Moore then refuelling on the second lap, Lougher moved back into the lead. That remained the top three with Lougher winning with a final lap of 111.064, the fastest lap of the race, for an overall time of 107.933 (1:02.55.328), 54 seconds ahead of Moore (106.420/1:03.49.017) with Garton, the first privateer in the F2 Class, third with 106.145/ 1:03.58.925.
“It made up for the disappointment of Saturday’s race and I was really disappointed to have broken down on the Paton. It was the race I was looking forward to the most but as soon as I left the line the bike felt flat and it never ran like it was capable of. It wouldn’t pull the gearing and got slower and slower which was a real shame as with John (McGuinness) going out and Ian (Lougher) being hit with a time penalty, if the bike had kept going we were well placed to win. It wasn’t meant to be but we’ll be back stronger.”
350cc Lap Record Obliterated as Lee Johnson takes Okells 350cc Classic TT win
Black Eagle Racing rider Lee Johnson, riding an MV Agusta, obliterated the lap record for the 350cc Class to take a stunning win in the shortened 3 lap Okells 350cc Classic TT Race on the Isle of Man. The win was the first MV Mountain Course victory since Giacomo Agostini’s double in the 1972 TT meeting. The Northern Ireland rider enjoyed a sensational race, winning by forty-five seconds from Davies Motorsport Honda rider Alan Oversby.
Clerk of the Course Phil Taubman advised riders of strong winds and damp patches ahead of today’s rescheduled Okells 350cc Classic TT Race, held over from yesterday following rain on the Mountain Course, but conditions were generally described as excellent.
Northern Ireland rider Jamie Hamilton, riding the Rutter Honda was first away from Glencrutchery Road shortly after the scheduled start at 12.03 followed by Saturday’s Bennetts 500cc race winner Ian Lougher on the Geoff Bates prepared Drixon Honda that Chris Palmer rode to victory in last year’s race.
Lougher was ahead of Hamilton by the first checkpoint but William Dunlop was the fastest to Glen Helen on the opening lap from Davies Motorsport teammate Alan Oversby, who made a stunning start from 14th on the grid to be only .09 of a second behind Dunlop. Oversby was the fastest qualifier, with an unofficial lap record of 102.707, which he set in Tuesday’s qualifying session.
Roy Richardson on the FCL Racing /Martin Bullock Aermacchi was third by the first checkpoint with Lougher and Lee Johnson, riding the Black Eagle Racing MV completed the top five.
Oversby moved ahead of Dunlop by Ballaugh, but only by .25 seconds. Dunlop, was first back to the Grandstand and smashed Palmer’s old lap record, clocking 103.045mph on the opening lap but it was short-lived with Oversby posting an opening lap 103.624 (21:50.781) to lead by 7 seconds. Lee Johnson (102.859) and Roy Richardson (101.889) were also inside the old lap record on the opening lap.
Early retirements on the opening lap included Chris McGahan at Union Mills and Mark Herbertson while Connor Behan was also stopped at Douglas Road Corner, eventually retiring at Parliament Square. Michael Dunlop retired in the pits at lap one when running 11th and James Hillier retired at Governors with a broken chain.
Lee Johnson was on a charge on the MV on the second lap and moved into second place behind Oversby at Glen Helen, and by Ramsey had reduced the deficit to only 2.3 seconds. Johnson hit the front, leading by only 0.5 seconds at the Bungalow and, despite Manx Radio’s Roy Moore speculating that Johnson would pit for fuel at the end of the second lap, the Northern Ireland rider went straight through the Grandstand, obliterating the lap record in the process with a lap of 105.239 (21:30.66).
With Dunlop reported as retiring at Douglas Road Corner on the last lap, Roy Richardson moved into the top three but all eyes were on the front as Johnson completed the victory with a final lap of 104.331 and an overall race time of 1:05.13.084 (104.134).
Johnston later revealed to Manx Radio’s Chris in the winner’s enclosure that the bike had been misfiring on the opening lap and he considered retiring but with the bike clearing he was able to chase down the leaders.
Tom Jackson, on the T20 Suzuki, was awarded the ‘Phil Read’ Classic TT Trophy as the first 250cc machine, finishing in 20th, while Roy Richardson took the ‘Geoff Duke’ trophy as the highest placed single cylinder 350 machine in the race. Phil McGurk, in 7th place, was the first privateer while Doug Snow was the first P1 (single cylinder) privateer in 8th.
Tony Tuttle was reported as off at Waterworks but was OK and was taken back to the Grandstand in a course car.
Billy Redmayne clinches IMGold Newcomers Manx GP Race
The Isle of Man’s Billy Redmayne followed illustrious names including Ian Hutchinson, Robert Dunlop, Michael Dunlop, Carl Fogarty, Phillip McCallen and Ryan Farquhar by winning the Manx Grand Prix Newcomers title.
The Manxman clinched a thrilling IMGold Newcomers Race victory by 1.8 seconds after a last lap duel with Malachi Mitchell-Thomas with Ireland’s Shane Egan taking the final podium place. It was a double celebration for the Isle of Man with Douglas based Dean Osborne taking the B title while Felpham’s James Caswell-Cox clinched the Newcomers C Race.
Competitors were greeted with the best conditions of the week for the rescheduled race as the Mountain Course was bathed in sunshine, although Clerk of the Course Phil Taubman warned the assembled grid about sunlight glare from Union Mills to Ballacraine and on the Mountain section from the Gooseneck.
Competition was expected to be fierce between the three fastest qualifiers – Manx rider Billy Redmayne, who is home from a tour of Afghanistan, Horwich’s Malachi MItchell-Thomas, who won the Newcomers B race at the Southern 100 and Ireland’s Shane Egan, the 2012 Superbike Cup Champion and so it proved.
The Newcomers Race is broken into three different classifications with Newcomers A for machines up to 750cc, 650’s twins and 250 two strokes eligible for the Newcomers B Race and Newcomers C for 400’s and 125cc bikes.
The Race, the first of the Manx Grand Prix meeting, got away exactly on time at 6.30pm and Wales’s Matthew Rees, the fourth fastest qualifier, riding the GT Superbikes Kawasaki had the honour of being first away from the start line.
And Rees turned the pre-race form book on its head by establishing a 3 second lead at Glen Helen from Redmayne with Mitchell-Thomas a further 1.5 seconds back in third. Egan was six seconds behind Rees in fourth.
Redmayne began to close on Rees and moved narrowly ahead at the Bungalow, but by only half a second although at the end of the first lap Redmayne (115.950mph) had extended his lead over Rees (115.690) to 2.6 seconds with Egan (115.593) and Mitchell-Thomas (115.395) completing the top four.
With the race reduced to three laps in a truncated programme following yesterday’s postponement, refuelling tactics were clearly going to play a part and while Rees and Redmayne came into the pits, Shane Egan elected to go straight through on his second lap.
Redmayne seemed to lose time in the pits after a problem with his fuel cap and dropped to fifth behind new race leader Shane Egan with Sam West, who also went straight through on the opening lap, in second from Mitchell-Thomas and Rees.
With both Egan and West refuelling at the end of the second lap, Malachi Mitchell Thomas moved into the lead but Redmayne was clearly on a charge and had closed the gap to four seconds at the Grandstand.
Although Mitchell-Thomas extended his lead to almost six seconds by Ramsey, a stunning Mountain Course section saw Redmayne move back into the lead at the Bungalow and the Manxman clinched the race win by 1.8 seconds with a final lap of 117.102, which gave him an overall race time of 114.955 (19:19.914).
West was only 2 seconds behind Egan at the Bungalow in the race for the final podium position but retired at the Creg Ny Baa leaving Egan (59:28.595/ 114.186 mph) to secure the final podium spot.
Dean Osborne, the fastest Newcomer in the B class qualifying, established a decisive lead after his opening lap 107.239 (21:06.593) with Barry Furber (105.440) twenty seconds back in second and Nick Anderson (104.923) holding third.
Despite pitting at the end of the first lap, Osborne was only eight seconds down on Furber at the end of the second lap with Furber opting for a three-lap strategy. Osborne was not to be denied and made up the gap, coming home with a final lap of 108.615 and an overall race time of 1:03.31.073 (106.921mph) to win by sixteen seconds from Furber (1:03.47.373/ 106.466) with Anderson (1:04.38.139/105.072) taking the final podium position.
French rider Lancelot Unissart led the Newcomers C race by 15 seconds from James Caswell-Cox, who set the fastest qualifying time in the class, after an opening lap 99.443 with Great Harwood’s Gavin Browne third. Both Unissart (101.378) and Caswell-Cox (100.940) posted 100mph laps on the second lap but with Unissart pitting, Caswell-Cox’s three-lap strategy saw him win by almost thirty seconds in 1:07.48.432/100.158mph) from Unissart (1:08.16.647/99.468). Brown’s (1:10.31.688/ 96.293) secured him third place.
