Dean Harrison secures Monster Energy Supersport second place at the Isle of Man TT races
The weather threatened all day on the Isle of Man, forcing a number of delays to the start time and some rescheduling of the planned races. Finally confirmed for a 15:00 start and covering three laps, Dean Harrison set off in third position behind Mike Brown and Paul Jordan on the road.
Conditions were challenging, with damp patches listed almost everywhere across the Mountain Course. Despite this, Dean immediately set to work and was leading on the road by the Mountain mile. Having qualified third fastest behind Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop, Dean’s pace was strong but in the closing stages of the first lap, Michael Dunlop and the 955cc Ducati took the lead by one tenth of a second.
An immaculate (compulsory) pit stop at the end of the first lap gave Harrison a chance to take some fuel, a drink and remove a tear off. With two laps remaining, Dean fought as hard as he could to manage the gap to the brachistochronic V2 Ducati.
As conditions improved, Harrison and Dunlop gapped the field. Despite losing almost ten seconds in his pitstop, Peter Hickman overhauled everyone to take third place.
Across the line, Dunlop and the 955cc Ducati took the win by 24.7 seconds, leaving Dean Harrison and the CBR600RR to take an incredibly well earned second place, pushing his Isle of Man TT podium tally to 37. With Hickman across the line 23.7 seconds later on the Triumph 765, the podium was complete.
Dean Harrison
First of all, I’m really pleased we got that race away. It was touch and go today and I wanted to go racing as much as the fans wanted to watch a race, we all deserved something. I did what I could and rode well, but it’s challenging when you’re giving away so much capacity. The team built a brilliant bike for me and I feel like I’ve been riding the CBR600RR well all year on the roads and the short circuits, it’s so much fun getting it singing and carrying corner speed as much as you can. I’ll take that second place, I’m pleased for the boys in the team and for Honda, we’ll keep an eye on the weather and see what tune it plays with the schedule.
