Having taken third in the Superbike TT at the beginning of race week, Dean Harrison scored the same result in Friday’s Senior TT, staking his claim as a rider to be reckoned with as he also broke into the 132mph club.
The Silicone Engineering Kawasaki rider had been part of a titanic three-way fight for the lead in the original start and was only 1.3s down on race leader Peter Hickman when the race was red flagged for Ian Hutchinson’s crash at the 27th Milestone.
The 28-year old wasn’t able to get as close to the lead in the re-run but he nevertheless was delighted with his second podium of the week.
“The plan this year was to get onto the podium in one of the Superbike races so to finish third in both the Superbike and Senior is brilliant,” he said afterwards. “I was going well before the red flag came out and it’s a terrible feeling waiting for a re-start but I pressed hard from the start and the bike was faultless. We’ve all been hindered by a lack of laps this year so fair play to Michael (Dunlop) for doing what he’s done this year on a brand new bike.”
An opening lap of 131.238mph put the Bradford rider in fourth place, just 0.7s behind Bruce Anstey and he moved ahead of the Padgetts rider on the second lap with a speed of 131.838mph. Going into the fourth and final lap, he was 15s behind Hickman but never gave up and was the quickest rider on the final 37.73-miles to become only the eighth rider to lap the Mountain Course at more than 132mph.
“We’ve been trying to find a good setting all fortnight and were still making changes in between races today but it never missed a beat and the team were faultless again. Peter came by me after the pit stop and I wanted to pull him back in although I don’t like following people too close because if they go through the hedge, you can end up doing the same!
“I like doing my own thing and although I wasn’t quite at it in the other races, making a crap start in the Superstock race and being a bit unfortunate in the Supersport, I really wanted a Superbike podium this year, as well as a 132mph lap so I’m over the moon to have achieved both.”
