Bingley’s Ian Hutchinson has made it three wins at TT 2015 by adding today’s second Monster Supersport race trophy to the Superstock and Supersport one trophies he bagged earlier in the week.
As on Monday, the fight was between Hutchinson and Sunday’s Superbike winner Bruce Anstey after the injured Michael Dunlop retired in the pits on lap one with his battered body unable to continue on.
No-one apart from Anstey had any answer for the flying Hutchinson, who crossed the line on his Team Traction Control Yamaha R6 by 14.820s with a final lap of 127.466mph with Anstey second and Guy Martin taking his first podium of 2015.
Hutchinson now increases his tally to 11 wins overall and he has also won more Supersport/Junior races than anyone else in the history of the Isle of Man. “I did my usual race and tried my best to keep myself in contention at the beginning, keeping as smooth as possible. After that, I started to build my momentum and fortunately I saw +7 on my board a lot earlier than what I did on Monday. The guys worked hard and changed the engine which I was a little concerned about but it worked a treat,” said Hutchinson.
“Towards the end of lap three though, I started to short shift in places just to be kinder to the engine. The gap came down to eight seconds though so I had to push again on the last lap and it was a fantastic race.”
James Hillier set the pace on lap one, pulling out almost a second over Hutchinson by Ballaugh Bridge, where Dean Harrison retired, but Hutchy was in front by the same margin at Ramsey and he was never again headed.
It was a lead of 2.248 as they reached the Bungalow as Anstey moved into second place and Gary Johnson sat in fourth, just ahead of Martin with Hillier in third place.
A first lap of 127.093 saw Hutchinson increase his lead to 4.869s over Anstey and then 7.129s at Ballaugh Bridge. At the Bungalow, Anstey was 9.241s behind and at the end of lap two, Hutchinson set the quickest lap of the race, a 127.751 as Anstey passed John McGuinness to lead on the road.
Martin passed Hillier for third place and stayed there for the rest of the race after a dice with Johnson on the roads but there was no catching Hutchinson.
Anstey clawed his way back from a 10.771s deficit at Ballaugh on lap three to a 7.653s gap at Glen Helen on lap four but Hutchinson read his boards and upped the pace from Ballaugh to secure the win.
Martin ended some 32.025s behind Hutchinson for the final podium, spot with Hillier and Johnson completing the top five. Lee Johnston hung on to sixth place with Conor Cummins beating John McGuinness for seventh place.
Manxman Dan Kneen, on the sister bike to Anstey, took ninth place with David Johnson tenth. Peter Hickman took 11th, Ivan Lintin 12th, Cameron Donald 12th, and Jamie Hamilton and Dan Cooper completed the top 15.
