96 amcn.com.au
race report
2018 Isle of Man TTPeter perfect
Amid celebration and sunshine there was sadness
and mourning, this wasTT 2018
THE 2018 ISLEof Man TT
will be long remembered
for what is best and equally
tragic about road racing on
the world’s most challenging
circuit.
During a glorious fortnight
of almost continuous
sunshine, lap and race
records tumbled in every
class, culminating in Peter
Hickman’s blitzing of the
outright record on the very
last lap of action during
the Senior TT. The British
Superbike Championship
star’s new mark of
135.452mph on the Smith’s
BMW saw the 30-year-old
crowned as the new king
of the 37.75-mile Mountain
Course.
That feat came at the
end of two weeks when two
riders lost their lives and
another remains in hospital
very seriously injured
following a bizarre, and as
yet, unexplained incident
involving a head-on collision
with a course car.
Thirty-year-old Dan
Kneen, a Manxman who
joined the Tyco BMW team
for 2018, was killed in a
high-speed practice crash
at Churchtown. A group of
riders who were near the
scene of Kneen’s crash when
the session was red-flagged,
were sent back towards the
paddock in the opposite
direction of the course.
A few miles up the road,
they met a course car
travelling at high speed
towards Churchtown. Steve
Mercer was seriously injured
after being hit by the vehicle
and remains in hospital in a
critical but stable condition.
A second fatality involved TT
newcomer, Adam Lyon. The
26-year-old died when he
crashed his Yamaha YZF-R6
at Casey’s on the Mountainsectionduringtheopening
Supersport race.
Tragedy is, of course, no
stranger to the TT course but
the inexplicable senselessness
of what happened to Mercer
and the deaths of local hero
Kneen and young newcomer
Lyon cast a dark shadow over
the event. Michael Dunlop
dedicated his victory in the
opening Superbike TT race
to Kneen, his Tyco BMW
teammate this season.
The Irishman inherited
the lead of the opening big
bike encounter after Dean
Harrison’s Silicone Kawasaki
ZX-10RR ground to a halt on
the fourth lap.
Harrison finished on the
podium of the 2017 Superbike
and Senior races, however,
and his rivals were stunned
by his 134mph pace during
practice week. The 29-year-
old posted a 134.432mph
from a standing start in theSuperbike race before a blown
clutch put him out of the
running.
The Bradford rider
attributed his 18.5 seconds
improvement in lap speed
this year to having a top-
spec Superbike engine in his
Silicone Z X-10RR, backed up
by the edge that racing in the
fiercely competitive British
Superbike Championship
scene has given him.
A faulty injector on his
Smith’s BMW S 1000 RR saw
Peter Hickman retire from
the opening Superbike race,
leaving Dunlop to romp to
victory. But the win masked
the problems the Irishman
was battling with his Tyco-
liveried BMW machine.
Having dithered over which
manufacturer to ride for
in 2018 after his split from
Suzuki, Dunlop didn’t agree
terms with Philip and Hector
Neill’s Tyco team until theREPORTSTEPHEN DAVISON PHOTOGRAPHY SD & BRIAN KNEALEYOUR FORTNIGHTLY FIX