Francesco Curinga claimed the honours in Saturday afternoon’s Junior Manx Grand Prix, the first Italian rider to win on the Mountain Course since Giacomo Agostini in the 1972 Senior TT – but there was heartbreak for local rider Jamie Williams who retired from the lead at Brandywell on the final lap.

Curinga (ILR/Mark Coverdale Paton) led the way through Glen Helen on the opening lap but only just with his advantage over Williams (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan Kawasaki) a minuscule 0.005s whilst Victor Lopez Santos (Xecretia Road Racing Aprilia) was only half a second adrift in third. Moore, Andrea Majola and Ben Rea completed the early leaderboard.

Williams had taken over at the front as they leapt Ballaugh Bridge for the first time, but it was closing up even more with now 0.497s covering the top three and although Curinga and Lopez Santos had near identical times on the run to Ramsey, it was Williams who was quickest and he was suddenly 2.8s clear.

An opening lap of 115.039mph gave Williams a slender 1.54s lead over Lopez Santos (114.889mph) with early pace setter Curinga (114.588mph) a further 3.11s adrift in third. Moore slotted into fourth but Lopez Santos’s race soon came to an end as he retired at Crosby early on the second lap.

Williams continued to press on second time around and a speed of 115.173mph gave him a more than healthy 14.468s advantage but it was Moore now in second with Curinga third, albeit by just 0.844s.

Marc Colvin was up to fourth ahead of Daniel Ingham, Ben Rea and Andrea Majola and through Glen Helen on the third lap, Williams’ lead was down slightly to 13.3s with Curinga back up to second and six tenths up on 1996 Newcomers race winner Moore.

As they started the final lap, Williams still led but his lead was down to 10.3s as Curinga made a late charge and the gap had been cut further at Glen Helen to 7.2s. Williams responded and had added another two seconds to his lead at the next timing sector but as he made the final climb up the Mountain, he was reported as being slow through Brandywell.

That became a retirement at the 32nd Milestone and with a final lap of 116.475mph, a new lap record, Curinga swept to victory by 19.788s from Moore with Colvin and Majola coming through for third and fourth, all three lapping at more than 115mph on their final laps.

Rea and Ingham finished fifth and sixth respectively after Williams’ demise with newcomers Albert Walker and Martin Morris and Andrew Fisher and Mark Herbertson completing the top ten.

2022 MGP Supporters' Club Junior race result - conditions dry

1 1 Francesco Curinga Paton S1R ilr marco sferrazza vercos vmg giga 01:19:20.398 114.132 Other
2 2 Chris Moore Kawasaki ER-6 Dafabet, RC Express 01:19:40.186 113.659 Other
3 9 Marc Colvin Kawasaki ER-6 CBG Contractors LTD 01:19:49.353 113.442 Other
4 4 Andrea Majola Paton S1R Biraus, Vasengine, Berik, Xlite 01:20:37.611 112.310 Other
5 10 Ben Rea Kawasaki ER-6 Heattech Racing 01:20:44.030 112.161 Other
6 3 Daniel Ingham Aprilia RS660 Castings Technology 01:20:59.357 111.807 Other
7 31 Albert Walker* Kawasaki ER-6 No Sponsor 01:23:02.335 109.048 Other
8 14 Martin Morris* Aprilia RS660 Brewer Racing/Obsession Engineering 01:23:22.831 108.601 Other
9 15 Andrew Fisher Kawasaki ER-6 Road Racing Group By James McBride 01:23:42.312 108.180 Other
10 29 Mark Herbertson Kawasaki ER-6 Gilbert Brown & Sons/ Hawkshead 01:24:31.238 107.136 Other
11 22 Eoin Ó Siochrú* Kawasaki ER-6 Reactive Property Maintenance 01:25:09.304 106.338 Other
12 34 Liam Chawke Kawasaki ER-6 Chawkie racing supporters club 01:25:43.109 105.639 Other
13 49 Paul Marley Kawasaki ER-6 Marley Landrovers / Cowton Racing 01:25:44.885 105.602 Other
14 53 Wayne Bourgeais Kawasaki ER-6 Basto Transports / Objectif 2R 01:26:42.743 104.428 Other
15 45 Steven Moody Aprilia RS660 Dilligaf Racing 01:26:46.187 104.359 Other
16 17 David Brook Aprilia RS660 Guildford Audio by Brook Motorsport 01:26:46.521 104.352 Other
17 42 Michael Gahan* Aprilia RS660 Newline Elite Limavady 01:27:16.442 103.756 Finisher
18 57 Andy Whale* Aprilia RS660 forced entry security, irish ago 01:27:36.986 103.350 Finisher
19 21 Rodger Wibberley Suzuki SV650 Team York suzuki 01:27:46.020 103.173 Finisher
20 51 Mark Jackson* Suzuki SV650 RM Controls Ltd | Mick's Tyres 01:28:02.799 102.845 Finisher
21 43 Darran Creer Suzuki SV650 MeditechDental, John Fisher 01:28:40.629 102.114 Finisher
22 46 Richard Kay* Aprilia RS660 McCrumsMotorcycles/Romans8:28Racing 01:28:51.999 101.896 Finisher
23 54 Stuart Clotworthy* Kawasaki ER-6 Lincoln refrigeration SLP racing 01:29:03.248 101.682 Finisher
24 56 Brian Appleton Suzuki SV650 NO SPONSER 01:29:56.464 100.679 Finisher
25 47 Quentin Limousin Suzuki SV650 TOM BIKE 01:30:45.916 99.765 Finisher
26 59 Adrian Skaife Kawasaki ER-6 Golden Site Solutions Ltd 01:31:18.338 99.175 Finisher
27 50 Krystian Paluch Aprilia RS660 Liberty Motors & Aprilla Polska 01:31:51.320 98.581 Finisher
28 25 Ross Orchard Kawasaki ER-6 Mac plant, CDC motorcycles 01:33:03.743 97.302 Finisher
29 37 Peter Creer Yamaha MT-07 Moneyshot Racing, IoM Bike Storage 01:33:07.302 97.240 Finisher
30 55 Richard Duncan Kawasaki ER-6 Kawasaki ER6 01:10:59.136 95.673 Finisher