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Sixty riders started the first race of TT 2024, the four-lap long Monster Energy Supersport race one contest.
Qualifying week pace setter, since reverting to his trusty YZF R6 Yamaha, Michael Dunlop, started for a fare few the slight favourite for honours with Davey Todd, Jamie Coward, Peter Hickman, James Hillier, Michael Browne, Jim Hind, Josh Brookes, Dean Harrison all expected to contend strongly.
Lap 1:
One hour fifteen minutes behind the intended schedule, thanks to an RTC involving a McLaren supercar, racing TT 2024 style sprung into fruition at 2:45 PM.
No.1 plate holder, Jackson Racing’s Paul Jordan was the first to get the tap on the shoulder.
Ten seconds later, second quickest overall during qualifying, KTS Racing Powered by Stanley Stewart Racing’s Jamie Coward sped away.
As the leading contenders reached Glen Helen, the top six was Dean Harrison, Davey Todd, Michael Dunlop, James Hillier, Jim Hind, Michael Evans.
At Ballaugh Bridge, Powertoolmate Ducati’s Todd grabbed the race lead, moving just 0.257 ahead of Honda Racing UK’s Harrison.
Dunlop third, was 1.228 behind 2019 Senior race winner Harrison.
Harrison retook the lead at Ramsey, with only 0.639 covering him and Todd. Michael Russell was the first confirmed retirement at Laurel Bank.
Under two seconds covered Harrison, Todd, Dunlop at the Bungalow. The leading trio remained close together as lap one finalised with Harrison still P1 (Lap one lap speed 128.037 mph) and now first on the road.
Lap 2:
Glen Helen lap two and prospective all time TT wins record holder Dunlop, slotted into second behind Harrison.
1.298 seconds was the gap separating the racers with 28 TT wins combined.
By Ballaugh Bridge, Dunlop was into the lead, half a second ahead of Harrison with Todd third, only 0.526 in arrears to the top Honda runner.
Dunlop moved two seconds clear at Ramsey Hairpin, Todd retook second as Harrison dropped to third.
Onto the Bungalow and Dunlop added a tiny amount to his race lead, 2.205 seconds.
Harrison repassed by Coward on the road, lost a further second to Supersport lap record holder Dunlop.
As the sole pit stops loomed, Dunlop lapping close to 129 mph, moved close to five seconds clear.
Coward, Hillier, Hind rounded out the top six behind Harrison, Todd, Dunlop.
Lap 3:
Jamie Coward, rostrum finishing quest ended at the pits, Conor Cummins retired as did Jorge Halliday.
Out front, Dunlop continuing to improve, improve his pace, upped the race-lead to nigh on six seconds at Glen Helen.
Todd cut Dunlop’s lead marginally at Ballaugh to 4.534 seconds. 4.171 seconds was Dunlop’s advantage at Ramsey.
The rest of lap three proved nip and tuck between Dunlop and Todd.
Clearly though Todd and the rasping V-twin Panigale was on a major charge.
With just one lap remaining, the margin between Todd and Dunlop stood at 5.073 seconds.
Harrison third, was 11.967 down on Todd whilst Coward’s problems enabled James Hillier to take fourth but coming under tenacious pressure from Jim Hind.
Lap 4:
6.8 seconds to the good out front at Glen Helen, Michael Dunlop looked to be on the cusp of history.
The only major spanners in the works, former Duke Road Race Rankings Champion Davey Todd.
At Ramsey Hairpin, the race lead was a touch past seven seconds.
7.728 ahead at the Bungalow, you could sense the magnitude of what was about to be achieved by ‘Maverick’.
Taking the chequered flag, ‘MD’ lapping at 129.214 mph, took race victory by 8.574 seconds over eight plate carrier Todd.
History, history, history, nephew Michael equals Uncle Joey’s all-time TT wins record.
Honda Racing UK’s Harrison completed the podium with Bournemouth Kawasaki’s Hillier fourth, top Suzuki rider Hind fifth, following a final lap of 126.133 mph.
Josh Brookes pocketed sixth, Jordan took seventh with Russell Racing’s Browne, 2017 Senior Manx GP winner, outright lap record holder Peter Hickman, Michael Evans eighth, ninth, tenth respectively.
Post race comments:
Davey Todd:
“Honestly my second podium, P2, not far off the win is the biggest positive that I’m
taking from this. We pushed him for a while there for a couple of laps, there was nothing in it, he just eked it out got away.
But like I say not much in it, got a couple of things to improve for race two, looking forward to the
Superbike race tomorrow.
The guys have been working so hard, to extract the best out of the bike, we know the V2 Ducati has an
awesome bottom end so it comes out the turns really well.
Top end is not necessarily it’s forte but the guys
have done a fantastic job in extracting the best they can, making it perfect for me to ride and as I say really
enjoy riding the machine now, looking forward to race 2.”
Dean Harrison:
“It’s nice to pull that one out of the bag, I’m happy with that, tough race, you’ve got to scratch on the little CBR
really hard to get it really going, get some speed out of it but it handles so well, it’s such a nice little bike to ride
so I’m looking forward to the next race.”
TT 2024 – Monster Energy Supersport Race 1 Result:
1st – Michael Dunlop
2nd – Davey Todd
3rd – Dean Harrison
4th – James Hillier
5th – Jim Hind
6th – Josh Brookes
7th – Paul Jordan
8th – Michael Browne
9th – Peter Hickman
10th – Michael Evans
11th – Dominic Herbertson
12th – David Johnson
13th – Shaun Anderson
14th – Rob Hodson
15th – Ian Hutchinson
16th – Joe Yeardsley
17th – Ryan Cringle
18th – Joey Thompson
19th – Stefano Bonetti
20th – Michael Sweeney
21st – AJ Venter
22nd – Stephen Parsons
23rd – Rhys Hardisty
24th – Barry Furber
25th – Amalric Blanc
26th – Eddy Ferre
27th – Darryl Tweed
28th – Sam West
29th – Jamie Cringle
30th – Tom Weeden
31st – Jonathan Goetschy
32nd – Brian McCormack
33rd – Marcus Simpson
34th – Michal Dokoupil
35th – David Rigby
36th – Gareth Arnold
37th – Mark Parrett
38th – Mike Norbury
39th – James Chawke
40th – Paul Cassidy
41st – Anthony Redmond
42nd – Jack Fowler
43rd – Jonathan Perry
44th – Loris Majcan
45th – David Brook
46th – Kevin Keyes
47th – Mark Goodings
48th – Craig Szczypek
Photo credit: Mark Corlett
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
Lap 2:
Glen Helen lap two and prospective all time TT wins record holder Dunlop, slotted into second behind Harrison.
1.298 seconds was the gap separating the racers with 28 TT wins combined.
By Ballaugh Bridge, Dunlop was into the lead, half a second ahead of Harrison with Todd third, only 0.526 in arrears to the top Honda runner.
Dunlop moved two seconds clear at Ramsey Hairpin, Todd retook second as Harrison dropped to third.
Onto the Bungalow and Dunlop added a tiny amount to his race lead, 2.205 seconds.
Harrison repassed by Coward on the road, lost a further second to Supersport lap record holder Dunlop.
As the sole pit stops loomed, Dunlop lapping close to 129 mph, moved close to five seconds clear.
Coward, Hillier, Hind rounded out the top six behind Harrison, Todd, Dunlop.
Lap 3:
Jamie Coward, rostrum finishing quest ended at the pits, Conor Cummins retired as did Jorge Halliday.
Out front, Dunlop continuing to improve, improve his pace, upped the race-lead to nigh on six seconds at Glen Helen.
Todd cut Dunlop’s lead marginally at Ballaugh to 4.534 seconds. 4.171 seconds was Dunlop’s advantage at Ramsey.
The rest of lap three proved nip and tuck between Dunlop and Todd.
Clearly though Todd and the rasping V-twin Panigale was on a major charge.
With just one lap remaining, the margin between Todd and Dunlop stood at 5.073 seconds.
Harrison third, was 11.967 down on Todd whilst Coward’s problems enabled James Hillier to take fourth but coming under tenacious pressure from Jim Hind.
Lap 4:
6.8 seconds to the good out front at Glen Helen, Michael Dunlop looked to be on the cusp of history.
The only major spanners in the works, former Duke Road Race Rankings Champion Davey Todd.
At Ramsey Hairpin, the race lead was a touch past seven seconds.
7.728 ahead at the Bungalow, you could sense the magnitude of what was about to be achieved by ‘Maverick’.
Taking the chequered flag, ‘MD’ lapping at 129.214 mph, took race victory by 8.574 seconds over eight plate carrier Todd.
History, history, history, nephew Michael equals Uncle Joey’s all-time TT wins record.
Honda Racing UK’s Harrison completed the podium with Bournemouth Kawasaki’s Hillier fourth, top Suzuki rider Hind fifth, following a final lap of 126.133 mph.
Josh Brookes pocketed sixth, Jordan took seventh with Russell Racing’s Browne, 2017 Senior Manx GP winner, outright lap record holder Peter Hickman, Michael Evans eighth, ninth, tenth respectively.
Post race comments:
Davey Todd:
“Honestly my second podium, P2, not far off the win is the biggest positive that I’m
taking from this. We pushed him for a while there for a couple of laps, there was nothing in it, he just eked it out got away.
But like I say not much in it, got a couple of things to improve for race two, looking forward to the
Superbike race tomorrow.
The guys have been working so hard, to extract the best out of the bike, we know the V2 Ducati has an
awesome bottom end so it comes out the turns really well.
Top end is not necessarily it’s forte but the guys
have done a fantastic job in extracting the best they can, making it perfect for me to ride and as I say really
enjoy riding the machine now, looking forward to race 2.”
Dean Harrison:
“It’s nice to pull that one out of the bag, I’m happy with that, tough race, you’ve got to scratch on the little CBR
really hard to get it really going, get some speed out of it but it handles so well, it’s such a nice little bike to ride
so I’m looking forward to the next race.”
TT 2024 – Monster Energy Supersport Race 1 Result:
1st – Michael Dunlop
2nd – Davey Todd
3rd – Dean Harrison
4th – James Hillier
5th – Jim Hind
6th – Josh Brookes
7th – Paul Jordan
8th – Michael Browne
9th – Peter Hickman
10th – Michael Evans
11th – Dominic Herbertson
12th – David Johnson
13th – Shaun Anderson
14th – Rob Hodson
15th – Ian Hutchinson
16th – Joe Yeardsley
17th – Ryan Cringle
18th – Joey Thompson
19th – Stefano Bonetti
20th – Michael Sweeney
21st – AJ Venter
22nd – Stephen Parsons
23rd – Rhys Hardisty
24th – Barry Furber
25th – Amalric Blanc
26th – Eddy Ferre
27th – Darryl Tweed
28th – Sam West
29th – Jamie Cringle
30th – Tom Weeden
31st – Jonathan Goetschy
32nd – Brian McCormack
33rd – Marcus Simpson
34th – Michal Dokoupil
35th – David Rigby
36th – Gareth Arnold
37th – Mark Parrett
38th – Mike Norbury
39th – James Chawke
40th – Paul Cassidy
41st – Anthony Redmond
42nd – Jack Fowler
43rd – Jonathan Perry
44th – Loris Majcan
45th – David Brook
46th – Kevin Keyes
47th – Mark Goodings
48th – Craig Szczypek
Photo credit: Mark Corlett
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
