Exciting start to the race
The race started at 12:15 and Todd was already in the lead on the first lap at Glen Helen. His lead over Dunlop was 1.5 seconds, closely followed by Hickman, who was only a tenth of a second behind. Dean Harrison (Honda Racing) also remained within reach, 0.3 seconds behind Hickman, while James Hillier (WTF Racing Honda) and Jamie Coward (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan Honda) rounded out the top six. Only two seconds separated the four leading riders.
Changing leads and exciting duels
At Ballaugh on the first lap, Todd’s lead shrank to half a second, with Hickman now second. Dunlop was almost two seconds behind Hickman in third place, followed by Harrison, Hillier and Coward. At the Ramsey Hairpin, Todd and Hickman remained just half a second apart, while Harrison overtook Dunlop to take third place by just 0.02 seconds. The battle for fifth place was also close, as Hillier and Coward were separated by less than a second.
At the bungalow, Todd and Hickman were separated by just 0.08 seconds and slowly pulled away from the rest of the field. With an opening lap of 133.362 mph (214.6 km/h), Todd led at the mandatory pit stop. Hickman lost a little time and was 1.7 seconds back at 133.137 mph (214.2 km/h), while Dunlop remained third at 132.639 mph (213.4 km/h), just ahead of Harrison (132.517 mph, 213.2 km/h).
Second lap and pit stops
After a quicker pit stop, Todd was almost five seconds ahead when he reached Glen Helen on the second lap. Dunlop had also pulled away from Harrison and was now 3.8 seconds ahead in the battle for third place. Hillier and McGuinness were now fifth and sixth, although Coward was apparently having problems with the transponder and was still on the track with McGuinness. Brookes lost almost a minute in the pits and dropped back to 16th place.
Hickman made up almost two seconds on Todd’s lead on the fast run to Ballaugh and the margin was 2.4 seconds for the second time through Ramsey. James Hind (North Lincs Components Suzuki) was again unlucky and retired in 14th place at Greeba Bridge. Michael Evans on a Suzuki also had to retire at Union Mills.
Final lap and decision
Todd’s lead dwindled to 2.1 seconds at the Bungalow, but by the time the third and final lap began, Todd had gained four tenths of a second. It looked like a duel as Dunlop was now more than seven seconds behind. He in turn had a lead of over four seconds on Harrison.
The lead had been reduced to 2.3 seconds by Glen Helen on the final lap and by Ballaugh Hickman had caught up to half a second with just half a lap to go!
However, Todd countered on the way to Ramsey and doubled his lead with just the final section over Mountain Road to go. The gap remained the same at Bungalow as Todd and Hickman rode nearly identical sector times off Ramsey Hairpin.
In the end, Todd was quicker from Bungalow to Cronk Ny Mona, winning by a 2.2-second margin over Hickman, who set the fastest lap of the race at 135.140 mph (217.5 km/h). Dunlop finished a comfortable third, almost 18 seconds behind. Harrison missed out on the podium by just 3.6 seconds, while Hillier and Coward finished a strong fifth and sixth.
McGuinness, Cummins, Dominic Herbertson (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing BMW) and Browne completed the top ten, while Brookes finished eleventh after Nathan Harrison on the third Honda Racing machine unfortunately crashed out on the final lap at Kate’s Cottage.
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