PokerStars Senior TT
THE FINAL EVENT OF THE TT WEEK,
the Senior TT, was quite special this year. The week began with Michael Dunlop obliterating the outright average speed record and also becoming the first rider to circle the mountain course in less than 17 minutes. During the Senior TT, he smashed his own record by going even faster. Not only that, the Northern Irish rider also led the race with a commanding lead.
As the race started, Dunlop racked up a 1.8-second lead over Ian Hutchinson at Glen Helen. But he was being chased down by riders like Dean Harrison, Lee Johnston, Gary Johnson, Peter Hickman and others who were within six seconds of Dunlop. As the race intensified, Dunlop went fastest on his second lap, clocking an average speed of 133.962 mph (215.590 km/h), in the process breaking the record he had set during the Superbike TT earlier in the week. Not only that, Dunlop also broke his lap-time record by going 4.51 seconds faster than in his Superbike lap. His lap timing stood at 16’53.929s.
With Michael lapping the course at blistering pace, Hutchinson tried his best to play catch-up but the Bingley Bullet was still running in second, 9.28 seconds behind Dunlop after two laps. While Hutchy tried his best to inch closer to Michael, the action behind these riders was heating up.
Anstey had moved into third after Hickman retired, but the Kiwi rider was still 26 seconds from Hutchinson. Morecombe Missile John McGuinness, in the meantime, had moved up from ninth to fourth and had his sights set on the final place on the podium. The first pit-stop saw McGuinness’ Honda crew work their magic in sending the Morecombe Missile out quickly, which now saw him slip into the number three spot. By the time John reached Glen Helen, he was already 6.7 seconds clear of Anstey.
By lap three, the gap between Dunlop and Hutchy stood at almost 12 seconds with a similar distance between McGuinness and Anstey. As the riders made their way into the pits for the second pit-stop, Dunlop’s lead had been cut short