Peter Hickman and the Smiths Racing BMW team came agonisingly close to winning the Dunlop Senior TT race for the second successive year earlier today when a technical issue forced the Lincolnshire rider to reduce his pace on the penultimate lap when well in command.
Having opened up an 18-second lead on the Smiths BMW S1000RR in the six-lap race, Hickman looked on course for his fourth win of the week but following a problem with the cooling system on the Gloucester-based team’s machine, he had to roll off the power meaning he had to settle for second place.
Brought forward to 10am, conditions were near perfect as Peter signalled his intentions from the word go. His opening lap of 134.284mph was the fastest of the week, giving him a two second lead over regular sparring partner Dean Harrison.
Second time around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course, the Waddington-based rider lapped at an almost identical speed as the first lap to give him an eight second lead with four laps to go. Pressing on at the head of the field, Peter was able to extend his lead through each timing point and as he came into the second pit stop at the end of the fourth lap, his advantage over Harrison had gone out to over 17 seconds. However, as he left the pits and headed down the 170mph Bray Hill section of the circuit, the bike began to lose water and as he got to Glen Helen his lead had been reduced by ten seconds.
From that moment on, it was clear any chance of victory had gone and at one stage, it didn’t look as if Hickman would finish the race, such was the amount of time he was losing. However, he kept plugging away and although he had to lap considerably slower than what he had done at the beginning of the race, he still finished in an excellent second place.
It was his fifth podium of the week, from as many races, and ensured he regained the Joey Dunlop TT Championship he last won in 2017 and the Smiths Racing Team took the team award for the third year in a row.
Peter Hickman: “The bike ran brilliantly for four laps and I’d opened up a healthy 18 second lead but after the second pit stop, the temperature of the bike just shot up and when I went down Bray Hill, the bike started to chuck water out at me. It’s the same issue we’ve had all fortnight and it just makes no sense at all. The team have turned the bike upside down and replaced everything, but we still can’t work it out! After that, I had to ride at half throttle for the final two laps and not rev the bike more than 11,000rpm so it wasn’t easy. It is what it is, and Dean had an issue in the Superbike race, so it was my turn today but although I’m disappointed not to have won today, I’ve had a mega week and with three wins and two more podiums, I can’t complain. It was especially great to get a Supersport win for the first time and the team have been awesome all fortnight so I can’t thank them enough.”
Darren Jones, Team Co-ordinator: “We’re gutted! After two 134mph laps, Pete was well placed to take his fourth win of the week, but it wasn’t to be although it’s testament to both him and the bike that he could still finish in second place after encountering problems on the final two laps. We’d tried different engines, radiators and all sorts on the big bike but still couldn’t get to the bottom of the issue but our hand was forced today. We planned on using the ‘hybrid’ bike we’d used to win the Superbike race earlier in the week, but the bike was stripped after the Superstock race and we didn’t have enough bits to build it back up again. We’ve only had the bike a few weeks so to come and do what we’ve done is phenomenal and we’re only going to get stronger, so it bodes well for 2020. We’ve been competitive at BSB and won at the North West 200 so to come here and get three wins, a second and a third is pretty good going. I’ve got to say a massive thanks to the team as it’s been a challenging fortnight, but they’ve kept chipping away and worked tirelessly so to come away with the Team Prize is the least they deserve.”
The team now return to the Bennetts British Superbike Championship with Hickman and James Ellison contesting round four at Brands Hatch on June 14-16.
Dunlop Senior TT (6 laps)
1 Dean Harrison (Kawasaki)
2 Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW)
3 Conor Cummins (Honda)
4 Michael Dunlop (BMW)
5 James Hillier (Kawasaki)
6 Davey Todd (BMW)
Pictures attached (courtesy of Double Red)
For further information, please visit www.smithsracing.co.uk and www.britishsuperbike.com
ENDS
