The Classic TT 2019
The winners’ enclosure alongside the TT Grandstand has been the theatre of many dream s over the decades, but few occasions have been as remarkable as this year’s Lightweight Classi ic TT.
CR’S expert eye that is John Watterson takes up pole position on the Island to bring you every beat of the story that makes up the world’s most famous classic event held around a mountain.
Since Bruce Anstey’s last race on the Island, two years ago, he has spent a lot of time undergoing treatment for a third bout of cancer. Even he feared at some stage that it would be unlikely he would recover sufficiently from multiple tumours in his lung and spine to race a motorcycle again – never mind win in his comeback on the Mountain Course.
But there is no under-estimating the unassuming New Zealander’s inner-strength and determination.
Despite a further setback at the beginning of this year, Bruce was relieved to ultimately get the green light for a return to racing on the course he has graced with outstanding success since making his debut a quarter of a century ago.
Loyal sponsor Clive Padgett always promised there would be a bike ready and waiting for him upon his return, and the RS250 Honda he had ridden to back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017 was there prepped and waiting.
The amazing Kiwi topped the opening practice session with a lap of 116mph and he continued to set the pace for the remainder of a truncated, weather-hit week of qualifying.
The fact that many hours of practice were lost because of continued unsuitable conditions probably played into Anstey’s hands, as he didn’t need to learn his way round the 37.7 mile course like some.
There were some concerns about his physical ability to maintain the pace in a fourlap stretch of a high-speed race of 80 minutes duration. But these proved unfounded as the 50-year-old was on the pace from start to finish, although the race was reduced to three laps because of a rescheduled programme.
He led by five seconds from surprise teenager James Hind at the first time check.
By Ramsey, Anstey was 11.5s ahead of the Lincolnshire lad, with his own Milenco by Padgett’s team-mate Davey Todd another 2.5s down in his first race on a two-stroke.
Anstey’s pit crew were super-efficient with the fuel top-up, helping him gain another 16s advantage over Todd heading into lap two.
Hind suffered a nightmare. The 18-litre tank had over-fififilled slightly on his Dennis Trollopesupported 250 Yamaha and the extra pressure made it difficult to refit the filler cap.
In his haste, the youngster then suffered
an additional 30-second penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit, dropping him to ninth place at Glen Helen approaching halfdistance.
Anstey had a 51s lead over Todd at Ramsey hairpin, with Ian Lougher up to third on the Laylaw Yamaha, 13.5s down on Todd.
Anstey’s lead grew to more than one minute with half-a-lap remaining, but 19-yearold Hind had clawed his way back to fourth, 3.4s behind Lougher.
By Ramsey he was one-second in front of the veteran Welshman and looking strong for a podium place.
Anstey crossed the finish line 1m 09.8s ahead of Todd, while Hind took another nine seconds out of Lougher over the mountain to seal third in only his fourth race on the course.
Jamie Coward grabbed fifth, with Rhys Hardisty edging local man Dan Sayle out of the top six on the final lap in what was the latter’s return to racing on the Mountain Course after crashing heavily in the corresponding race 12 months earlier.
“It’s awesome to be back. Thanks to everyone who put so much into this; my team, Clive [Padgett] and my family, Carl Cox and the other sponsors, but especially my partner Anny.
“It’s been a tough old road battling to get my health back – two years of hell really. I would not be here without Anny’s support.”
Junior 350cc
Jamie Coward finally achieved the Mountain Course victory he had strived so hard for in the Junior Classic TT.
The Hebden Bridge man led home a Honda-dominated field in a shortened three-lap race on Ted Woof’s Craven-sponsored twin.
Despite having only completed one full lap in practice on his Davies Motorsport machine, Lee Johnston was fast out of the traps in the race and led Coward by five seconds at Glen Helen on lap one. 2018 winner Dominic Herbertson was a close third.
Topping 125mph on Sulby straight, Johnston’s lead had extended by another second at Ramsey and was up to 8.8s at the Bungalow.
A standing start lap of 103.38mph gave Johnston an official lead of 9.006s over Coward, with Herbertson third at another 10.6s, and Michael Rutter a further 13.8s astern. Irishman Derek Sheils was fifth and Welshman Hefyn Owen sixth, but Michael Sweeney took the slip road at Governor’s Bridge to retire the CSC Racing Honda.
Also among the eight riders to go out on the opening lap were Gary Vines, Dave Moffitt and Arthur Browning, while Richard Wilson had stopped to make adjustments. Among the next to retire were Ed Poole and Jeff Ward.
Johnston grabbed another half-a-second on the fast run to Ballacraine, but then lost time on the seven-mile stretch to Ballaugh.
Coward was first on the road at Ramsey hairpin and had taken a full four seconds out of Johnston in two sectors. Little more than one mile later the talented Ulsterman pulled in to retire at the Gooseneck.
This elevated Coward into a comfortable lead of 27.7s over Herbertson at two-thirds distance, with Rutter and Sheils up to third and fourth.
Rutter had cannily hitched a ride in the slipstream of Coward’s marginally quicker machine and began to edge closer to Herbertson on corrected timing.
With half-a-lap remaining, Coward was running away with it some 38s ahead of Herbertson, whose advantage over Rutter was down to 3.8s. That had dropped to 2.3s at Ramsey, and by the top of the final mountain climb Rutter was up to second place – 1.5 seconds ahead of Herbertson.
The latter wasn’t giving up without a fififight and the difference between the two was only 0.9 of a second at Cronk-ny-mona, but Rutter held on to take the No.2 spot by 0.351s at the chequered flag.
The glory was all Coward’s though and he proudly stepped up onto the top step of the podium for the first time. His winning margin was 37.9 seconds.
He could hardly get the words out in the post-race interviews: “I’m in bits, but I’m over the moon to be honest.
“I knew someone was behind me and thought it might be Rutter, so when he went past me towards the end I knew what his game plan was so I kept calm behind him.”
Rutter was full of praise for the 28-yearold Yorkshireman. “He didn’t put a wheel wrong,” said Michael.
Herbertson was similarly gracious in defeat. ‘I’m really pleased for Jamie. It’s been a long time coming. He’s a class act.”
Sheils, Owen and late addition to the Chapman Racing Team for the Junior, Dan Sayle, all averaged in excess of 100mph to round out the top six, while silver replicas also went to Alex Sinclair, Richard Wilson, Rob Hodson and Paul Jordan on the Ripley Land AJS – the first non-honda man on the leading single-cylinder machine.
Senior 500cc
John Mcguinness completed back-to-back wins in the Senior Classic TT and his third overall on the Winfield Paton.
In a race red-flagged and rerun over a shorter three-lap distance following Chris Swallow’s tragic crash at Ballaugh, Mcguinness won by more than 27 seconds from Italy’s Stefano Bonetti.
The gap between the leading Patons was near-identical at six seconds in both starts at the first time check, but Maria Costello’s Buegger Racing version was quickest at the Sulby speedtrap, clocking 141.9mph.
The gaps were already stretching at the Bungalow with Mcguinness 13s up on Bonetti and Costello another 20s adrift, closely followed by Jamie Coward on the Craven Manx Norton.
A standing start lap of 111.679mph gave Mcguinness a 17.2s advantage over Bonetti heading down Bray Hill for the second time.
The lead was in excess of 20 seconds at Ramsey on lap two, but Michael Rutter retired from sixth spot with a seized G50 motor at Glentramman.
Coward got ahead of Costello on corrected timing as they began the mountain climb for the second time, and with one lap remaining Mcguinness’s lead was 24.29s over Bonetti, who in turn was three-quarters of a minute up on Coward and Costello. Alan Oversby was fifth on the Ireland Honda, ahead of similar K4s in the hands of Derek Sheils, James Hillier and veteran Chris Mcgahan.
Retirements included Lee Johnston, Michael Sweeney, Mark Purslow, Meredydd Owen and Russell Roebury.
The gaps between the top five continued to grow with each sector and Coward powered past Costello on the road approaching Barregarrow to cement his third place.
Mcguinness claimed his third Senior Classic TT win in four years with a final lap of 110.447mph to cross the line 27.7s ahead of Bonetti on adjusted timing.
Coward’s Norton single was 63.6s behind the Italian rider’s twin and 13.1s ahead of Costello, who in turn was 27.2s clear of Oversby.
Sheils took the last of the silver reps, while 68-year-old Mcgahan, Norton-mounted Hefyn Owen and Dave Matravers, along with Ben Rea (Honda) all took home bronze replicas.
“That was hard work,” said Mcguinness after his 26th win on the course (an
achievement only rivalled by Joey Dunlop).
“The gearing perhaps needed another tooth, but the bike never missed a beat. My toes and fingers are tingling with the vibration and my ears are ringing with the noise, but I really enjoyed it.
“I’ve worked out that I’ve ridden well over 50,000 miles on this course, but I still love it. I could have stayed out there all day.”
Admitting that he had been a little worried when Stefano Bonetti was moved up the starting order to No.2 [from 22], in place of the injured Dean Harrison, Mcguinness added: “With a bit more practice, Stefano may have given me a tougher race – but a win’s a win.”
John smiled as he spotted a lump of chocolate cake wedged in the bottom of the Paton’s fairing – thrown at him by Michael Rutter on the return road as he toured back to the winners’ enclosure!
Bonetti gestured to the left-side of his Speed Motor version of the same model where it was a minus a gear-lever pedal. He had ridden the final few miles changing gear with his left hand.
Coward suggested that third place on the podium with a Norton single up against the Patons was as good as a win, particularly in a shortened three-lapper when the twins did not need to take on fuel.
Superbike
David Johnson became the first Australian to win a Classic TT Superbike race after grabbing the reins late in this year’s fourlapper.
The 37-year-old inherited the lead for the second time in the closing miles when three-time winner Michael Dunlop rolled to a halt at Hillberry with a drained battery on his Team Classic Suzuki.
Johnson, who had also briefly moved into the lead on Alasdair Cowan’s 750 Kawasaki at half-distance, ultimately crossed the finish line 41 seconds in front of Irishman Derek Sheils on a similar ZXR.
It took Dunlop more than one lap to chisel out a discernible lead as Johnson pushed the Ulsterman hard in the early miles.
At Ballaugh the margin between them was 1.2 seconds and despite an average speed of almost 125mph at the completion of that initial lap the gap was 1.931s on corrected timing. Conor Cummins was another 9.9s behind in third on the Milenco by Padgett’s 500cc Yamaha YZR.
The top 13 all lapped in under 19 minutes, but early retirements included Sam West at Union Mills and Brian Mccormack at Ballacraine.
It was only at Ballaugh on lap two that Dunlop appeared to get into his stride and, powering down Sulby straight in excess of 171mph, the gap had opened up to six seconds by Ramsey, with Cummins reaching his home town another 8.4s down.
At half-distance, the lead was up to 8.8s for Dunlop. But, needing to change the rear slick in addition to taking on a tank load of fuel, he lost all of his lead and a tad more to the Australian.
At Glen Helen on lap three Johnson was the best part of two seconds ahead of Dunlop on corrected timing.
Cummins dropped three places as the thirstier V4 stroker also required a lengthier fill-up.
Sheils had benefited from a quick stop and was third ahead of Rutter (enjoying a tow behind Dunlop), with Jamie Coward fifth. James Hillier made the quickest stop of all in 51.567s on the Oxford Racing Ducati to close the gap on the riders ahead of him.
Johnson’s lead had been slashed to 0.4 of a second by Dunlop at Ballaugh on lap three, but Rutter’s race ended when he stopped at Gwen’s on the exit from the village.
Dunlop was back at the helm by Ramsey where he led Johnson by 3.7s. Sheils was third, 5.5s ahead of new fourth-place man Coward. In turn, he was 3.5s up on Cummins with Hillier right on the Manxman’s heels at another half-a-second.
After a hectic lap of changes in the top six, Dunlop powered down Glencrutchery Road to commence his final lap 4.8s ahead of Johnson, with Sheils at another 35s. Hillier had jumped up another two places to fourth ahead of both Coward and Cummins.
Coward halted the Kraus Kawasaki at Cronk-y-voddy, while Hillier was on a real
charge with the Ducati twin and had reeledin Sheils to edge him out of third place by 0.2 of a second at Ballaugh.
Dunlop was cruising at Stella Maris with a comfortable lead of 12 seconds over Johnson. Hillier was two seconds ahead of Sheils, with Cummins back up to fifth and fellow Manxman Ryan Kneen sixth on the Team Herheim Racing Kawasaki.
Just as it looked as though Dunlop was virtually home and dry the news came that he was overdue at Cronk-ny-mona.
He had rolled to a halt at Hillberry, leaving Johnson to cross the finish line a minute or so later with a winning margin of 41.2 seconds over Sheils. The latter had made a dramatic last sector charge and made up more than two seconds on Hillier to snatch the runner-up spot by 1.5 seconds in a thrilling finish.
It was later revealed that Hillier’s Ducati had cut-out at Governor’s Bridge dip and he had been forced to restart the motor.
Cummins nailed fifth ahead of Kneen, with Michael Sweeney, Rob Hodson, Davey Todd (who had Bruce Anstey in the pits for him), Craig Neve and Michal Dokoupil of the Czech Republic completing the top-10.
“I put everything into that final lap,” said a delighted Davo Johnson after a closing average of 125.150mph.
“The bike was mint. It wasn’t the best of weeks in qualifying, but we got there in the end. The throttle on this was made for Hercules!”
Irish Superbike Champion Sheils revealed that he had suffered from arm pump but was delighted with his ride on the Greenall Racing Kawasaki, resulting in his first podium finish on the course.
The fuel had been running low on Hillier’s Ducati, and said it was a tough ride on old dogs like these, but it was nice to end the day in the winners’ enclosure.