Peter Hickman stayed on course to equal Ian Hutchinson’s record of five Isle of Man TT wins in a week as he took the Supertwin victory on Wednesday afternoon.

Hickman, on the Paton, had been in a tooth-and-nail scrap with Michael Dunlop - at times only half-a-second spitting the pair - but the Ballymoney man’s Paton slowed dramatically at Laurel Bank on lap thre

It left Hickman with near two-minute lead over Aprilia-mounted Lee Johnston in second place with Paul Jordan taking his maiden podium on the Kawasaki. Jordan is sporting two black eyes and a swollen hand after hitting a bird on Sulby Straight earlier in the week.

With bright sunshine at the Grandstand but damp patches remaining in the north of the Island, particularly Kerromoar, Glen Duff and the Ramsey Hairpin after heavy overnight rain, Dunlop led through Glen Helen on the opening lap with Hickman just 0.8 seconds behind.

 
Jamie Coward (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan) was only a further 0.9 seconds adrift and they were followed by a flying James Hind (Team ILR/Mark Coverdale), Johnston and Frenchman Pierre Yves Bian on the second VAS Engine Racing Paton.
 
Taking the jump at Ballaugh Bridge for the first time, Hickman had turned his deficit into a 0.8 second advantage and the two Patons had opened up a 5.2 second gap over Coward, who in turn had opened up a similar distance to Hind. Johnston and Bian remained in fifth and sixth but Gary Johnson (Dafabet Racing) was out having retired at the famous landmark.
 
At Ramsey Hairpin, Dunlop had cut Hickman’s lead down to half a second and it looked to be a two-horse race with Coward now 8.2 seconds in arrears. He was more than 11 seconds clear of Hind though with the latter coming under pressure from Johnston with just 1.3 seconds covering the two riders.
 
Dunlop edged ahead at the Bungalow by just 0.08 seconds and an opening lap of 120.303mph meant he led Hickman by 0.6 seconds as the riders made their mandatory pit stop at the end of lap one. Coward was now 13.7 seconds further back in third with Johnston having overhauled Hind for fourth and Bian holding station in a good sixth. Jordan, Rob Hodson, Michael Rutter and Stefano Bonetti occupied seventh to tenth.
 
Coward had the quickest pit stops of the leading contenders at 29.7s but whilst he continued to lead on the road, he was still in third at Glen Helen on lap two and he was now 16.9s behind second placed Dunlop with Hickman back in front albeit by only 0.8s. Further back, Bian had overtaken Hind to move up into fifth.
 
As the lap progressed, there remained nothing between Hickman and Dunlop and the latter led at Ballaugh by the tiny margin of 0.04 seconds, a gap that had stretched at Ramsey Hairpin but only up to 0.8 seconds. That was halved when both riders crossed the tramlines at the Bungalow for the second time.
 
However, Coward was out with the Kawasaki having expired just after the 11th Milestone and that promoted Johnston into third and the final podium position – albeit almost a minute behind the race leader – with Bian, Jordan and Hind now the running order behind him.
 
Back at the front and as the riders flashed along Glencrutchery Road to start their final lap, there’d been yet another leader change with Hickman back ahead of Dunlop, the gap between the two still only half a second. Johnston was now 1 minutes 10 seconds behind Dunlop but the Aprilia man was in a safe third being more than 20 seconds ahead of Bian. Jordan moved up to fifth and had closed to within 3.8 seconds of the Frenchman.
 
Drama soon came though with Dunlop slowing through Laurel Bank and Hickman’s lead at Glen Helen was a whopping 57 seconds, the Englishman having overtaken his rival on the road. Johnston and Bian were still in third and fourth but now had Dunlop firmly in their sights, on time at least.
 
Dunlop was then reported to have stopped to make adjustments only to be black flagged and whilst Hickman had a huge lead over Johnston, third place was still anyone’s with just a handful of seconds covering Bian, Jordan, Hind, Hodson and Rutter.
 
Hickman had no issues going up and down the Mountain for the final time and, with the fastest lap of the race, 121.293mph, cruised to his third win of the week, taking the chequered flag 1 minute 49 seconds clear of Johnston. A delighted Jordan took the third position from Ramsey, holding on until the end for a debut TT podium finish.
 
Fourth was still a superb result for Bian in his first TT and Rutter and Hodson followed him home with Hind, Dominic Herbertson, Michael Evans and Xavier Denis completing the top ten. For the latter two, it was their best ever TT results.

Bennetts Supertwin result - conditions dry

1 10 Peter Hickman Paton S1-R PHR Performance 56:35.517 120.006 Silver
2 3 Lee Johnston Aprilia RS 660 Ashcourt Racing 58:24.798 116.265 Silver
3 8 Paul Jordan Kawasaki Z650 PreZ Racing by Prosper² 58:48.055 115.498 Silver
4 9 Pierre Yves Bian Paton S1-R VAS Engine / Martimotos 58:54.969 115.272 Silver
5 4 Michael Rutter Paton S1-R ILR 59:00.969 115.077 Silver
6 11 Rob Hodson Kawasaki Z650 Dafabet Racing 59:02.572 115.025 Silver
7 12 James Hind Paton S1-R Team ILR / Mark Coverdale 59:09.553 114.799 Silver
8 5 Dominic Herbertson Kawasaki Z650 CC Engineering 59:18.285 114.517 Silver
9 18 Michael Evans Kawasaki ER-6 Heattech Racing 59:52.787 113.417 Bronze
10 33 Xavier Denis Kawasaki Z650 Optimark by performanX 01:00:19.788 112.571 Bronze
11 24 Barry Furber Yamaha MT-07 DC Motorcycles Newtown 01:00:36.002 112.069 Bronze
12 34 Paul Potchy Williams Kawasaki Z650 Golden Site Solutions Ltd 01:01:07.319 111.112 Bronze
13 26 Jonathan Perry Kawasaki Z650 The People’s Bike / JPR 01:01:17.174 110.814 Bronze
14 35 Jonathan Goetschy Aprilia RS 660 Goetschy Racing 01:01:22.012 110.669 Bronze
15 39 Raul Torras Martinez Aprilia RS 660 Optimark 01:01:49.816 109.839 Bronze
16 25 Forest Dunn Aprilia RS 660 McCrum’s Motorcycles 01:02:26.743 108.757 Finisher
17 20 Michael Russell Aprilia RS 660 Fraser Evans Tyre Recycling 01:02:42.094 108.313 Finisher
18 31 Timothee Monot Aprilia RS 660 TMR / Maison C2B 01:02:48.198 108.138 Finisher
19 37 Anthony Redmond Kawasaki ER-6 Reds Garage 01:02:49.415 108.103 Finisher
20 53 Pete Murray Kawasaki Ninja 650 Arizona Speed Engineering 01:03:13.352 107.421 Finisher
21 15 Julian Trummer Kawasaki Z650 WH Racing powered by Dynobike 01:03:20.275 107.225 Finisher
22 36 Dave Hewson Aprilia RS 660 Brewer Racing/Obsession Engineering 01:03:39.694 106.680 Finisher
23 45 David Madsen-Mygdal Kawasaki ER-6 CSC Racing /RJP 01:04:37.392 105.092 Finisher
24 44 Masayuki Yamanaka Kawasaki ER-6 Team ILR / Mark Coverdale 01:04:48.053 104.804 Finisher
25 59 Matt Mylchreest Suzuki SV650 MWR Motorcycles / Biker Nexus Twin 01:07:05.522 101.225 Finisher
26 57 Craig Szczypek* Suzuki SV650 Pure Beauty By Tate RJB Motorcycles 01:07:06.138 101.210 Finisher / Newcomer
27 58 Jason Burrill Kawasaki Z650 Castlegate Homes 01:08:24.588 99.275 Finisher