Northern Ireland’s Shaun Anderson claimed his maiden victory around the Mountain Course after a dramatic end to the Classic Senior Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man on Monday.

The race was held over a single lap of the 37.73-mile course after further weather disruption including rain and low cloud led to delays, with competitors warned of lots of damp patches.

Morecambe’s John McGuinness led all the way and had a gap of 1.1s over Anderson at Cronk-ny-Mona, but Anderson managed to edge ahead on the final short stretch to the finish to win by just over a tenth of a second.

Fellow Ulsterman Adam McLean finished on the podium in third.

placeholder image — Classic Senior Manx Grand Prix winner Shaun Anderson on the podium with runner-up John McGuinness (left) and Adam McLean, who finished third

McGuinness, fastest in practice on Roger Winfield’s Paton, took the early lead at Glen Helen by 4.4s from Anderson (Peter Beugger Paton), with Mike Browne in third on the Eureka Racing Norton, only four tenths down on Anderson.

McLean was next on the Flitwick Motorcycles Royal Enfield ahead of Magherafelt’s Paul Jordan (Davies Motorsport Honda).

At Ballaugh Bridge, McGuinness had increased his advantage slightly to 4.7s over Anderson, while McLean moved into third, 4.15s down on Anderson.

Browne was fourth, only a tenth of a second behind McLean, with Jordan next.

There was little change at the front when McGuinness reached Ramsey hairpin, with the 23-time TT winner maintaining his 4.7s lead over Anderson.

However, Browne had reclaimed third ahead of McLean by half-a-second, with Yorkshireman Jamie Coward (Craven Classic Racing Norton) now moving into fifth ahead of Jordan.

Banbridge man Anderson began to close the deficit to race leader McGuinness and was now 2.36s behind at the Bungalow, while the battle for third continued with McLean back ahead of Browne by 2.2s.

McGuinness, fastest through the speed trap at Sulby at 143mph on the Italian Paton, led by only 1.1s at Cronk-ny-Mona from Anderson, who was pushing hard for his maiden victory.

In a dramatic conclusion, it was Anderson who pipped the TT legend to claim his first win on the Mountain Course by only 0.163s, lapping at 110.613mph compared to McGuinness’s lap of 110.598mph.

The final podium place went to McLean, who was 13.56s behind runner-up McGuinness.

Browne was around one second further adrift in fourth with Coward and Jordan completing the top six.

The Classic Junior race, which was run concurrently, went to newcomer Harley Rushton on the Chris Hughes Racing Honda by 48.9s from Glen English (Melbray London/Watch Vault/The Shed Honda), with Dromore’s Mark Johnson in third on the MJ Racing Honda.