Ian Hutchinson set an unprecedented record today by winning the Dainese Senior TT at the Isle of Man. The win is Hutchinson’s fifth victory at the IOMTT this year, a feat that no other rider has accomplished: sweeping the conventional motorcycle portion of the TT. Hutchinson had close competition in the form of John McGuinness and Conor Cummins, but those riders crashed and retired, respectively. This all but assured Hutchinson of taking the Senior TT, and setting an Isle of Man TT record for victories in one week.
Hutchinson’s record setting race win wasn’t the only action during the premiere event at the TT. Originally scheduled for six laps around the Mountain Course, the Dainese Senior TT was cut down to just four laps because of a restart. During the first start Hutchinson, McGuinness, Cummins, and Guy Martin were all lapping over 130MPH, and were within seven second of each other at the first pit stop. But as they took to their third lap, Martin crashed near Ballagarey, and the race had to be red flagged.
Guy Martin was thankfully conscious and talking to medics, but the restarted race had to be shortened to only four laps once it got underway again. The restart allowed Cummins and McGuinness to come closer to Hutchinson’s time and pace, but once they were out of the race, it allowed Hutchinson to win by a comfortable margin of 37.77 seconds ahead of Ryan Farquhar and Bruce Anstey.
Until this day, only 11 time champion Phillip McCallen has come close to Hutchinson’s feat at the Isle of Man. McCallen became the first and only rider to win four races in the TT’s 103 year history, a distinction he has held that since 1996.
Source: IOMTT
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