Deano does the double! Second Superstock victory for Honda Racing at the 2025 Isle of Man TT
Dean Harrison secured his second TT victory of 2025 and the fifth Isle of Man win of his career with an assured performance on Friday afternoon. The Manx-domiciled Yorkshireman underlined his form at this year’s event by completing a clean sweep in both of this year’s Superstock category races on the Honda Fireblade.
Harrison launched cleanly into the race and set strong opening sector times in a pitched battle with his nearest rival, Davey Todd. It was Harrison who led by half a second at the end of the first 37.73-mile lap, having averaged 133.4 mph from a standing start. When the mandatory pit stops were made, the Honda Racing crew’s slick pit stop helped gain more time, which was added to when Todd’s machine refused to restart, costing him more than 10 seconds.
From that point on, Harrison was firmly in control. Running behind him on the road for much of the race was his team-mate, the 23-time TT winner John McGuinness MBE, who enjoyed far better feel in the setup of his machine than had been the case in the opening Superstock encounter, keeping him in the thick of the Top 10 battle and an eventual eighth place finish.
Racing continues for Honda Racing as its riders compete for the blue riband Senior TT on Saturday, 7th June. For a full schedule of the event, please click here.
Dean Harrison
“Words can’t describe it, I’m absolutely over the moon to get my two wins in the Superstock class. I went for it really hard at the start, so when I looked at my pit boards I saw P1, P2 then P1 over the mountain again. Then I just saw P1 was +13 seconds coming out of Glen Helen after the pit stop on Lap 2, so I carried on as hard as I could and thought ‘right, I’ll carry on this lap to try and manage that’. If I could keep that lead the same there was no way somebody could make 13-14 seconds on me in the lap, so I just kept my head down and when I saw that P1 was +20 seconds I just read my boards from there, really. I just managed it, knocked it down by a few rpm on the last lap, and brought it home. Honestly, we’re constantly trying to adapt the bike, everyone’s in the same boat, being such a difficult place, trying to set your bike up round here is a little bit of a compromise and we’ve had a little bit of stability issues that we’ve near enough caught now, which means that I can ride the bike the way that I want to ride the bike. Massive thanks to the whole team, all at Honda and everyone have put a brilliant bike together and it’s great to see the Honda Fireblade in P1. We have been in talks about changing a few things to the bike for the Senior TT tomorrow, we’ll have six laps and that’s very physical around this place so we’ll have a sit down tonight and come up with a plan!”
John McGuinness MBE
“I think these have been the best weather conditions of the whole fortnight, right at the end of the meeting and definitely worth waiting for. There were tons of crowd out there, it was quite cool to ride around out there with all those people around the track. I just felt a bit more focused today, I was riding a bit tight in the first Superstock race, I was miles away, but out there I was a lot more competitive today. Obviously, the top three are out of my reach but after that we’re right in there with those other guys. I just enjoyed the race. Dean came past and again I was like: ‘Go-go-Deano! Go on, son!’ So yeah, I just kept my head down, hit my apexes, the conditions were nice out there, I rode a bit looser and let the bike do the work instead of trying to fight it all the time. The pit boards were much better and it was a tight, competitive battle with the guys around me and 130.6 mph isn’t a bad lap time. I have got to commend the boys in the pits, they were faster than me - I wasn’t ready! They were pushing me out and I had to grab hold of the handlebars. It’s settled me down a bit, I was a bit nervous but, you know, I’ve got to try and keep my job at Honda! I’m looking forward to the Senior TT now, it’s tough to do six laps but you’ve just got to get into a rhythm and not make any mistakes. You’ve got two pit stops, I love the Superbike, it’s the same again: 260 corners to do six times with two pit stops and no mistakes. It’s a race of attrition, a tough race, but it’s the one everybody wants to win so we’ll just have to get stuck in and see where we end up. There’s a lot of good younger riders and fantastic bikes out there and I’m mixing it up with them guys still at my age, that’ll do for me.”
Team Manager Havier Beltran
“I just really want to thank Dean for delivering Honda’s first Superstock double on the current Fireblade. He’s worked hard all year and the team and myself are really proud of him for what he’s done. The pit stops went extremely well, everyone hit their marks for both of the bikes, and it really is great to see such a strong team effort. It’s also very encouraging to see John getting back towards the front, it’s been an up and down week in some ways, with a great 131 mph lap and also a 16th place finish. Now, though, I think he is peaking at the right time for us to look forward to a strong finish for both riders tomorrow in the Senior TT.”
