Isle of Man TT 2019 results: Peter Hickman seals hat-trick of wins in superstock race as David Johnson takes maiden podium
Smiths Racing BMW rider adds superstock victory to his earlier superbike and supersport wins while Honda Racing return to the podium for the first time in three years
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Your support makes all the difference.Peter Hickman made it a hat-trick at the 2019 Isle of Man TT with victory in the RL360 Superstock race to add to his supersport success earlier in the day as he proved in a class of his own with a dominant flag-to-flag display, sealing his fifth TT victory in the process.
From the moment that the Smiths Racing BMW star was flagged away from the Grandstand, Hickman never looked like losing as he powered away from the field, and not even his closest rival Dean Harrison could live with him on what is the Silicon Engineering Kawasaki rider’s weakest class.
But behind an almighty battle developed for the final step on the podium, with David Johnson producing a storming final sector to snatch third from Michael Dunlop and secure his first podium finish at the TT along with Honda Racing’s first since replacing John McGuinness’s third-place in 2016.
Hickman has repeatedly had to fight back from trailing Harrison over the opening stages, but he delivered his most convincing display of the week to lead from start to finish to secure his second win of the day.
While most of his opposition had just the single morning’s qualifying lap under their belts on the superstock machines, Hickman used his in the opening RST Superbike race, albeit with superbike modifications, and he appeared to have an advantage from already competing on the bike under ace conditions as he reached the mandatory pit stop at the end of the first lap with a healthy nine-second lead over Harrison.
Despite the standing start and slow-down for the pits, Hickman posted a phenomenal 132.02mph lap, less than three miles per hour off the existing superstock lap record.
After a tricky and largely-off-the-pace week, Dunlop reached the pits in third place, locked in a battle with James Hillier and Johnson. His efforts were helped when Hillier failed to get his Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki slowed in time for the pits, earning himself a 30-second penalty for speeding and leaving Dunlop and Johnson to battle for the final step on the podium.
But out in front Hickman was busy making it a one-horse race. Harrison managed to take three seconds back through a combination of a faster pit stop and run to Glen Helen, but from there Hickman turned the screw to extend the lead to 16 seconds by the end of the second lap.
That gap continued to grow throughout the third and final lap, with Hickman going more than 20 seconds clear with half-a-lap remaining, and by the time he came off the Mountain and across the finish line to take his fourth consecutive big bike victory, he finished 26.045s clear of Harrison to prove in a class of his own.
"I don't know what it is about the superstock but over the last few years I've been so much stronger than everyone else (on the superstock),” said Hickman. “BMW build a great SS1000 and I don't know what it is, something just clicks and off I go. Even on the second lap, I wasn't cruising but I didn't really have my head down.
"Even at the North West, we got the new bike and it was P1 in practice and we won the race. To get it this good out the box is amazing.
"It's ace to ride around in the sunshine and not to actually have to bite down and go for it, to have a buffer those last two laps was good."
But behind the front two, the battle for the third step in the rostrum was raging as Johnson and Dunlop swapped places throughout the final lap. Johnson moved ahead on the run to Glen Helen as Dunlop had to deal with lapped traffic, but riding on his MD Racing Honda, the Ballymoney native was able to snatch it back by Ramsey by just half-a-second. Heading into the final run off the Mountain, just 0.9s separated them at the Bungalow, and it was Australian Johnson who crossed the line in third with just 0.208s to spare.
"Unreal,” said Johnson of his maiden podium. “My guys have been unreal. It's basically a hand-picked crew by me and everyone that I wanted in my corner. We worked our way through it and now we're here. I didn't know if we put enough fuel in and looked at him and thought 'is that enough?!', but it didn't blip until the line.
"That last bit is short-circuity and I'm a short-circuit guy, and one dude in the crowd said P3 so I did a big burnout and came in here.
"I nearly came in here (winner’s enclosure) after the supersport race after finishing 10th because I was so happy with that. To do it for real is so frickin cool, and to all the Aussie's supporting me thanks, we'll have another one of these later on."
RL360 Superstock results
1. Peter Hickman
2. Dean Harrison +26.045s
3. David Johnson +39.887s
4. Michael Dunlop +40.095s
5. Conor Cummins +49.243s
6. Michael Rutter +56.094
7. James Hillier +1:14.863s
8. Davey Todd +1:36.648s
9. Jamie Coward +1:39.780s
10. Gary Johnson +1:43.050s
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