By Emerging on top out of a classic battle with The Peoples Bike team mate Stephen Parsons, Ripon’s Matt Stevenson with a final lap of near the 121 mph mark secured the blue riband Senior Manx Grand Prix crown.
Victorious by just over five seconds, Stevenson’s performance was made all the more tumultuous given that he had been given a pit lane infringement penalty, following his scheduled pit stop at the end of lap 2.
Due to this, the race lead he had established of almost 3.2 seconds at the completion of lap 2, evaporated. This left good friend, team mate Parsons a lead of plus ten seconds at Ramsey Hairpin on lap 3.
Photo by Mark Corlett
Despite the disappointment of the penalty, it did not nothing to affect Stevenson’s mind set, as the YZF R6 Yamaha mounted racer steadily section by section reeled in Newcomers A rostrum finisher from 12 months ago, Parsons.
The crucial timing point on lap 4 that saw Stevenson dramatically re take the race lead, was at the Bungalow. From here he maintained a plus three second lead and kept his cool to cross the line, to become 2018 Senior Manx GP champion.
Reflecting on his huge achievement, the over the moon race winner stated:
“It was P1 plus half a second at the Goose Neck on the second lap, So I knew a battle was on here I guessed it would be one of the lads on 750’s, I didn’t think it would be ‘Trev’, we call him Trev, his names Stephen Parsons, but his real names Trev trust me!
So I thought just get my head down and see were we end up, just do what I can. It’s a good job I didn’t really know I had that ten seconds in pit lane, cause I would have pushed harder which doesn’t seem to end well, as proved in the Junior race.”
Race runner up Parsons was philosophical in defeat, plus delighted to secure a third Manx GP rostrum finish.
Concluding the podium finishers was Stagefreight Haulage backed Steven Procter, who joined the ‘Tommy Club’ for the first time, following a final lap speed of 120.579 mph.
Ultra impressive newcomer Michael Browne announced himself it’s fair to say as a future high calibre TT Races exponent, after an excellent fourth place finish.
Andy Farrell joined the ‘Tommy Club’ on route to finishing fifth, whilst Junior race victor James Chawke enjoyed another productive race in finishing a solid sixth.
Concluding the top ten finishers were Martin Bullock Manxsport’s David Lumsden, Spain’s Victor Lopez Santos, Stephen Smith and Wayne Humble.
Others to record good results included Manx GP returnee Morgan Govignon (11th), Francesco Curinga (12th) now the fastest Italian Manx GP racer of all time, Nathan Harrison (13th), Slovakia’s Miroslav Sloboda (16th) and Chris Cook (17th).
Race results are as follows:
1 Matt Stevenson
2 Stephen Parsons
3 Steven Procter
4 Michael Browne
5 Andy Farrell
6 James Chawke
7 David Lumsden
8 Victor Lopez Santos
9 Stephen Smith
10 Wayne Humble
11 Morgan Govignon
12 Francesco Curinga
13 Nathan Harrison
14 Marc Colvin
15 Gareth Evans
16 Miroslav Sloboda
17 Chris Cook
18 Jason Corcoran
19 Michael Hand
20 Andrew Fisher
21 Gaz Evans
22 Dennis Booth
23 Shaun Evans
24 Leon Murphy
25 Dave Quine
26 Chris Sarbora
27 Darryl Tweed
28 Grant Gaskell
29 Ryan Maher
30 Nicolas Pautet
31 Teddy Bresson
32 Stuart McCann
33 Erik Kjuus
34 Nick Southerwood
35 Colin Croft
36 Andy Lovett
37 Andy Hayes
38 Kevin Barsby
39 James Reveley
40 Andrew McAllister
41 Ross Orchard
42 Peter Moore
43 Tommy Henry
44 Nige Rea
45 Jason Heritage
46 Richard Stubbs
47 Sebastian Witt
48 Andy McPherson
49 Paul Battersby
50 Robert Nelson
51 Noel Carroll
52 Iain Hill
53 Ben Shuttlewood
54 Herve Somson
55 Peter Creer
56 Richard Duncan
57 Andreas Psychogyios
58 Ben Plant
59 Fabrice Faivre
Words by Stevie Rial
