Dominic Herbertson (Davies Motorsport Honda) claimed his first victory on the Isle of Man Mountain Course as he took Monday’s heavily-delayed Junior Classic TT race, coming home ten seconds clear of Jamie Coward (Ted Woof/Craven Honda) with Lee Johnston taking third on a second Davies Motorsport Honda.

Overnight rain and mist led to a delay of five and three quarter hours and the race was subsequently cut from four laps to three but it finally got underway at 4pm with Michael Rutter (Ripley Land Racing Honda) leading through Glen Helen on the opening lap, his lead over Coward just half a second. They were swiftly followed by Herbertson, Hefyn Owen (Honda), Alan Oversby and Johnston with Dan Cooper just outside the top six.

Through Ramsey for the first time and Rutter, going for his third win in four years, had increased his advantage to 4.2s as he began to reel in Coward on the road, the Yorkshire rider having started ten seconds in front of him. Herbertson was still in third, only five seconds down on Coward but whilst Owen still held onto fourth, Johnston had overhauled Davies Motorsport Honda team-mate Oversby for fifth.

An opening lap of 102.416mph saw Rutter extend his lead over Coward to 9.8s with the duo now together on the road but it was Herbertson who was now into second as he nosed ahead of Coward by just 0.2s. Owen had stopped on the Mountain to make adjustments and that promoted Oversby up to fourth with Johnston and Cooper (CSC Racing Honda) now in fifth and sixth.

As they swept round Glen Helen for the second time, Coward was keeping Rutter behind him on the road but not on the timesheets with the gap 9.6s and Herbertson again split the two, 9.3s behind Rutter and just three tenths of a second clear of Coward. Johnston slotted into fourth but only by 0.117s from Oversby with Cooper holding station in sixth.

Rutter and Coward continued to circulate in close company throughout the lap but Rutter was in trouble and his lead was being cut at every timing point. Indeed, he pulled into the pits at the end of the lap and retired with a flat rear tyre which made Herbertson the new race leader. A superb second lap of 104.082mph sent him 14.3s clear of Coward with Oversby the new third placed rider as Johnston, Cooper and Adam McLean (Ripley Land Racing AJS) now filled fourth to sixth place positions.

On the third and final lap, Herbertson maintained his advantage and was able to ease back slightly on the second half of the lap to take a popular win whilst Coward finished in second place, just as he had done in Saturday’s Senior Classic TT race after a final lap of 103.984mph.

The battle for third went all the way to the chequered flag though and, having edged ahead at Ramsey, Johnston got the better of Oversby to take third place once more as Cooper and McLean completed the top six.

Peter Boast and Davey Todd finished in seventh and eighth with veteran David Madsen-Mygdal and Steve Ferguson completing the top ten.

Locate.im Junior Classic TT results - conditions dry

1 8 Dominic Herbertson Honda / Davies Motorsport 01:05:51.460 103.122 Silver
2 3 Jamie Coward Honda / Ted Woof / Craven Honda K4 01:06:01.491 102.861 Silver
3 13 Lee Johnston Honda / Davies Motorsport 01:07:53.567 100.031 Silver
4 2 Alan Oversby Honda / Davies Motorsport 01:08:09.996 99.629 Silver
5 1 Daniel Cooper Honda / CSC Racing 01:08:17.463 99.448 Silver
6 5 Adam McLean AJS / Ripley Land Racing 01:09:14.575 98.081 Bronze
7 18 Peter Boast Honda / Ken Rutter Racing 01:09:32.930 97.649 Bronze
8 12 Davey Todd 350 Norton / Goathland Garage Classics 01:09:44.707 97.375 Bronze
9 16 David Madsen-Mygdal Honda / Team Gimbert Racing 01:10:51.569 95.843 Bronze
10 19 Steve Ferguson Honda / Greenall Racing / Home Instead Se 01:11:14.721 95.324 Bronze
11 6 Danny Webb Norton / Dunnell Racing 01:11:20.450 95.197 Bronze
12 9 Oliver Linsdell Honda / Flitwick Motorcycles / SMV Engine 01:12:04.750 94.221 Bronze
13 15 Alex Sinclair Honda / CSC Racing 01:12:12.682 94.049 Bronze
14 23 Ewan Hamilton Honda / Janice Johnston 01:12:43.636 93.382
15 20 Bob Owen Aermacchi / Mike Faucett 01:13:00.548 93.021
16 33 Lancelot Unissart Honda / Bob Light Motorsport Ltd 01:13:05.848 92.909
17 45 Leon Murphy Honda / Maurice Hughes 01:13:07.250 92.879
18 26 Dave Matravers Honda / Round Oak Services Ltd 01:13:08.335 92.856
19 27 Will Loder Greeves 01:13:21.930 92.569
20 28 Alec Whitwell Bates Honda / Geoff Bates Racing 01:13:34.481 92.306
21 42 Jeff Ward Jeff Carbutt Suzuki / Jeff Carbutt Racing 01:14:12.620 91.516
22 35 Russell Roebury Honda / Almik Engineering / Demar Uk 01:14:40.316 90.950
23 65 Mark Woods Honda / IMS Ltd 01:14:49.000 90.774
24 79 David Tetley* Ducati / Tetley Racing 01:15:39.492 89.764
25 41 Meredydd Owen Seeley / Owen Racing 01:15:49.541 89.566
26 38 Jeff Smith Honda / RobSpeed Motorcycles 01:16:05.801 89.247
27 63 Christopher Bray BSA / Dave Hardman / TSR Surface Finishi 01:16:30.150 88.774
28 34 Keith Dixon Seeley / Minnovation Racing 01:16:39.650 88.590
29 55 Jason Lamb Honda / ML and JL Services 01:17:42.254 87.401
30 48 Tony Tuttle Honda / Tony Tuttle Racing 01:17:53.499 87.190
31 71 Ian Thompson Honda / Marine Hotel, Peel 01:18:05.728 86.963
32 54 Grant Sellars Norton 01:18:11.879 86.849
33 67 David Glover Honda / CMJ 01:18:22.776 86.648
34 64 Paul Williams Honda 01:18:45.611 86.229
35 76 Justin Roebury Honda / G&C Engineering Limited 01:19:01.526 85.939
36 46 Roy Phipps Honda / Biketech Stoke Limited / Hamnett 01:19:02.834 85.916
37 78 Shelley Pike Ducati / SPARK 01:19:24.691 85.522
38 73 David Burrell Norton 01:19:37.439 85.293
39 30 Chris Moore Honda / JL Exhausts / Silverstar Services Lt 01:19:49.077 85.086
40 57 Mick Moreton Seeley 01:19:50.770 85.056