Bike India – August 2019

T

heSupersportcategoryfeatures

motorcyclesthathaveeither600-ccfour-

cylinderor675-ccthree-cylinderenginesthat

arehighlymodifiedandarealwaysquite

intense.Thesemachinesgenerallydemand

corneringat a veryhighspeed,causinga slight

adjustmenttoridingstylesfromthebig

superbikes.MichaelDunlopholdsthecurrent

racerecordwithanaveragespeedof126.7mph

(203.90km/h)inthisfour-laprace.

RaceOne

RaceonestartedwithJamesHillieronthe

QuattroPlantWickedCoatingsKawasakiin

thelead,followedcloselybyLeeJohnstonand

hisAshcourtRacingYamahaandtheRAF

Regular&ReservesTriumphofGaryJohnson.

Thethreeseta blisteringpace,leavingDean

HarrisonandhisSiliconeEngineering

P

rior to the water issue, Peter Hickman’s

Smiths Racing BMW worked flawlessly

with him taking the victory in the RST

Superbike category. Hickman set a speed of

132.64 mph (213.46 km/h), just pipping Dean

Harrison who clocked a speed of 132.52 mph

(213.27 km/h). Dean Harrison on his Silicone

Engineering Kawasaki would have it his way in

the Dunlop Seniors but would have to settle for

second here, albeit by a very narrow margin.

Connor Cummins on his Milenco by

Padgett’s Motorcycles Honda finished third,

a feat he would go on to accomplish in the

Dunlop Seniors too. This means two

podiums for the lad who generally features in

most Isle of Man TT videos due to his

horrific crash.

Fourth place was won by James Hillier and

his Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings

Kawasaki and Michael Rutter on the

Bathams Racing Honda. They were followed

by Michael Dunlop on the Tyco BMW.

However, all three were a couple of miles an

hour off the pace vis-a-vis Hickman,

Harrison, and Cummins.

RST SUPERBIKES

MONSTER SUPERSPORT

Kawasaki, Jamie Coward on the Prez Racing

Yamaha, and Michael Dunlop on the MD

Racing Honda fighting it out with one another.

The three of them were within just a second

and a half from one another. The group was

followed closely by the K2 Trooper Beer

Triumph of Peter Hickman and Conor

Cummins on the Milenco by Padgett’s

Motorcycles Honda.

Come lap two and Lee was now in the lead

over Hillier after the descent from the mountain

and those were not the only changes. Hickman

had picked up the pace and got the better of

some of the men in front and was now in third.

Dean Harrison started to make his move by

getting past Gary Johnson, but he could not

catch Hickman who was pulling closer and

closer to Hillier in second place.

At the end of the second lap are pit-stops for

Isle of man TT record holder,

Peter Hickman, won the RST

Supe rbike category

Lee Johnston won

the first race of the

Monster Supersport

104 BikeIndia August 2019 http://www.bikeindia.in