2023 Isle of Man TT Results
Superstock TT Race Two – Three Laps
Peter Hickman got one back on Michael Dunlop early this week with a convincing victory in Tuesday’s three-lap Superstock bout that ended with a 134.331 mph lap despite the 36-year-old larking about on the final lap with some incredibly long wheelies at various points around the circuit, including a beauty carried all the way across the finish line. Despite playing up for the crowd Hickman’s victory margin over Dunlop was over 23-seconds. Dean Harrison was a further 15-seconds behind to complete the podium. On the back of that form Hickman went into this one as favourite.
Josh Brookes had spent some time with his crew yesterday doing some short circuit testing in preparation for today and they thought they had made a step forward, only for Josh to declare that those changes had not translated to the TT course after his warm-up lap. The fire went out on his bike only metres after the start on Tuesday so the two-time British Superbike Champion will be hoping to make full race distance today to also set himself up for a better tilt at the Senior TT on Saturday.
Davey Todd was in doubt for today and if the race had started on time there is no way he would have made the start. Todd’s team had already fuelled and took the bike on to the grid in case their man was able to race.
After some anti-sickness injections and rest Todd achieved medical clearance only minutes before the rescheduled 1245 start time. In his rush to make the grid the 27-year-old nearly took me and plenty of others out on his e-scooter as he made his way to the grid.
David Johnson was again the first away, the South Australian was eighth on Tuesday and will be hoping to go a few places better than that today. Unfortunately he ran-on early on the opening lap at Ballacraine and that halted his charge before it really began. His rear brake locking on put a stop to his race.
As they went through Glen Helen for the first time nothing separated Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop, while Dean Harrison was already a couple of seconds down. The recovering from sickness Conor Cummins was fourth ahead of Jamie Coward.
Little separated Hickman and Dunlop at Ramsey but that pair had now really pulled away from Harrison, the Kawasaki man already eight-seconds adrift. Conor Cummins was looking good in fourth with a five-second buffer over James Hillier who had moved past Jamie Coward for fifth place. Josh Brookes had moved up to seventh place.
Riders came in for their compulsory pit stop at the end of lap one and Hickman led Dunlop by 1.8-seconds, with Dean Harrison a further ten-seconds adrift in third. Conor Cummins fourth, Jamie Coward fifth, James Hillier sixth, Josh Brookes seventh and John McGuinness eighth.
Peter Hickman really started to stretch away from Michael Dunlop and Dean Harrison on lap two. Hickman led Dunlop by four-seconds at Ramsey. Harrison was a further 13-seconds down, but with a handy 16-seconds over fourth placed Conor Cummins. Jamie Coward was a further 15-seconds behind in fifth and was now being closed down by Josh Brookes and John McGuinness, while James Hillier had slipped to eighth.
As they started the third and final lap Hickman led Dunlop by five-seconds. Harrison was a further 23-seconds behind in third place but with an 18-second buffer over Conor Cummins. Only eight-seconds covered Jamie Coward, Josh Brookes, John McGuinness and James Hiller so fifth place was still wide open with 37.73 miles to run.
Hickman and Dunlop were really having a crack now but when ever Dunlop asked the question Hickman proved to have an answer and continued to grow his advantage. Both riders were under the lap record at Glen Helen and continuing to pull away from Harrison. Conor Cummins still fourth while Jamie Coward had stretched away from his pursuers, his advantage over Brookes out to four-seconds by Ballaugh.
Michael Dunlop fastest through the Sulby speed trap at 197 mph on the Honda but by Ramsey Hickman was ten-seconds under the lap record on the FHO BMW M 1000 RR.
Dunlop passed Dean Harrison on the Mountain Mile despite starting 40-seconds before the Northern Irishman. Brookes had reclaimed some ground on Coward in that tussle over fifth on the final lap and by Bungalow Brookes had taken that fifth place and now had a two-tenths advantage over Coward.
Peter Hickman set an all-time lap record of 136.358 mph (219.5 km/h) on the final lap to take the win by 17-seconds over Dunlop, who was also under the Superstock lap record at 134.730 mph.
Dean Harrison crossing the line almost a minute after Hickman to round out the podium after putting in a 132.400 mph on the final lap.
Peter Hickman
“Absolutely brilliant, and so happy for FHO BMW, been working their arses off all week. It is never easy, Michael Dunlop on form and everyone really pushing the boat out. Started a bit slow, felt a bit tired and achy but then just got better from there. Will discuss with the team whether to use the Superstock bike in the Senior TT, the Superstock bike has its advantages in some areas, and the Superbike advantages in other areas, so we need to sit down and make an educated decision on which way to go.”
Dean Harrison – P3
“To be honest, the bike never missed a beat, it’s been working quite well all week. It’s strong in some areas but not in others so I think on the day we did the best we could. I knew Michael [Dunlop] was ahead and I wasn’t going to be able to bridge the gap and we had had a reasonable gap to fourth so I just managed the race as best I could really. I knew I had a good third and I wanted to get it back in one piece. As ever, the team has been great, they’ve worked flat out all week and it’s good to be able to give them another podium. Now we’ve just got the one left, the big one tomorrow so let’s see what that brings.”
Conor Cummins a fairly lonely fourth after a brilliant performance considering he had missed pretty much all of practice week and the beginning of race week due to illness, but a 132.376 mph lap on his final time around underlines his potential.
Josh Brookes won his contest with Jamie Coward to secure fifth place by less than half-a-second. That fifth equals Brookesy’s best result at the TT and his 131.759 mph on the final lap is a new personal best for the 40-year-old.
James Hillier seventh ahead of John McGuinness and Dominic Herbertson while Michael Rutter rounded out the top ten.
After an excellent pit stop at the end of the lap, John tucked in behind Michael Dunlop as they left the pit and going into the final lap he’d moved up a place to seventh as just nine seconds covered Coward, Brookes, John and Hillier with just 37.73-miles to go.
A slight issue with the clutch over the first seven miles of the last lap caused John to lose a bit of time to his rivals but it remained close and as he crossed the line with a final lap speed of 129.879mph – his best lap of the race – his final finishing position was eighth, just one second adrift of Hillier after 113 miles of racing!
John McGuinness – P8
“I’m happy with today’s result as the pace was strong and it was a very enjoyable race, so it goes some way to making up for Tuesday’s DNF where I was on course for a similar result. Everything went fine today except for the final lap when I started to have a bit of clutch slip, which started around the Greeba area. There’s a cable adjuster on the bike so I slowed down a bit and got some free play back into the lever. I lost a bit of time making the adjustments, which probably cost me seventh place as James only got the better of me by a second. It’s another top eight finish and another silver replica so I’m happy enough. The bike was mint, the track was mint and there was a huge crowd around the course so I’m looking forward to finishing strongly in tomorrow’s Senior.”
After being plagued with problems during practice week Rennie Scaysbrook brought the Kibosh BMW home in 30th place, around six-minutes behind the podium finishers.
Many of the riders then had a quick turn-around to prepare for the second and final SuperTwin contest of TT 2023. Tomorrow, Saturday, we have the premier event of TT week, the six-lap Senior TT.
2023 Isle of Man TT Results
Superstock Race Two
- Peter Hickman – BMW
- Michael Dunlop – Honda +17.184s
- Dean Harrison – Kawasaki +40.386s
- Conor Cummins – Honda +18.300s
- Josh Brookes – BMW +23.741s
- Jamie Coward – Honda +00.490s
- James Hillier – Yamaha +17.076
- John McGuinness – Honda +1.094s
- Dominic Herbertson – BMW +31.482s
- Michael Rutter – BMW +00.281s
- Shaun Anderson – Suzuki +5.962s
- Phillip Crowe – BMW +13.041s
- Craig Neve – Honda +13.041s
- Rob Hodson – Honda +3.521s
- Brian McCormack – BMW +10.535s
- Paul Jordan – Yamaha +11.840s
- Samuel West – BMW +7.743s
- Stephen Smith – Honda +16.830s
- Ryan Cringle – Honda +15.312s
- Allan Venter – BMW +18.807s
- Michael Evans – Suzuki +20.778s
- David Datzer – BMW +1.689s
- Mark Barrett – BMW +27.230s
- Mark Goodings – Kawasaki +1.792s
- Forest Dunn – Suzuki +1.343s
- Stefano Bonetti – Honda +00.393s
- Rhys Hardisty – Yamaha +2.251
- Michael Russell – BMW +19.838s
- James Chawke – Suzuki +36.090s
- Anthony Redmond – BMW +3.747s
- Rennie Scaysbrook – BMW +7.034s
- Xavier Denni – Yamaha +5.379s
- Baz Furber – BMW +1m01.498s
