Hickman dominates Superstock at Isle of Man TT

Peter Hickman has picked up his second Isle of Man TT victory of the day by dominating the RL360 Superstock TT ahead of Dean Harrison, as David Johnson secures his maiden TT podium edging out Michael Dunlop.

The Smiths Racing BMW rider grabbed the lead by Glen Helen on the opening lap and it would be a position he’d never relinquish over the shortened three-lap Superstock TT.

Ending Lap 1 with a nine-second advantage over Harrison, Hickman’s gap was cut to 5.8s by a speedy pit stop from the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki squad but with a clear run to the finish over two laps the Smiths rider produced an untouchable pace.

Hickman crossed the finish line 26.045s in front of Harrison on adjusted times to follow up his earlier Supersport TT win, marking his third victory at the Isle of Man TT this year and the fifth of his career.

With Harrison having to settle for second place, his third runner-up result of the week, an almighty battle for the final spot on the rostrum developed between Johnson and Dunlop.

Honda Racing’s Johnson moved into third place starting the final lap but with Dunlop gaining a slipstream from following Hickman on the road he was able to retake the place by the Ramsey Hairpin.

But coming over the Mountain, the Australian rider reeled in Dunlop to cross the finish line just 0.208s ahead to make his debut TT podium appearance and the team’s first rostrum since the 2016 Senior TT.

James Hillier saw his hopes of joining the rostrum fight wrecked by a 30-second time penalty for speeding in pit lane, which initially dropped the Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider from fourth to ninth.

Hillier’s penalty saw Conor Cummins promoted to fifth place for Milenco by Padgetts Honda with Michael Rutter taking sixth for Bathams Racing BMW as the Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider recovered to seventh place by the finish.

Davey Todd produced an impressive charge to eighth place on the Penz13.com BMW beating Prez Racing Yamaha’s Jamie Coward by a little over three seconds, as RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki’s Gary Johnson rounded out the top 10.

Ian Hutchinson was a non-starter for Honda Racing, while Derek Sheils and Philip Crowe were the two notable non-finishers.