Southern 100: Dean Harrison claims milestone 25th victory from Davey Todd in second Senior race | Leaders make history with 116mph laps | Michael Dunlop completes podium

The DAO Racing Kawasaki rider battled all the way with Tuesday’s winner Davey Todd (Milenco by Padgett’s Honda) in a record-breaking race, with both riders making history by breaking the 116mph barrier for the first time.

After seven scorching laps in excellent weather around the 4.25-mile Billown course on the Isle of Man, it was Harrison who claimed the spoils by 0.094s on the line for a milestone 25th victory at the event.

Ulsterman Michael Dunlop was 14.6s behind in third on his Buildbase Suzuki, while Onchan’s Nathan Harrison (Steam Packet Honda) held off Supertwin race winner Jamie Coward (KTS/Steadplan Yamaha) for fourth, 10.684s behind Dunlop.

Skerries rider Michael Sweeney finished in sixth on his MJR BMW.

Harrison made a flying start from pole to lead Todd on the first lap, with Nathan Harrison and Dunlop in close contention.

At the end of the lap, Harrison was 0.2s ahead of Todd, with Nathan Harrison in third, 1.59s back, but Dunlop was breathing down his neck and moved into third after they blasted over the line.

The leaders had already opened a slight gap at Cross Four Ways on lap two as Harrison continued to head Todd and Dunlop.

Harrison set a new race lap record at 104.4mph to open a gap of half-a-second over Todd on lap two, with Dunlop continuing to give chase, 2.2s adrift.

The race lap record fell again as Harrison wound up the wick on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR, recording a speed of 115.307mph as he increased his lead slightly to 0.69s after three laps over Todd, who was also under the old lap record for the class with a speed of 115.141mph. Dunlop was on his own in third, 4.6s back, with Nathan Harrison in fourth but less than a second ahead of Coward.

On a blistering fourth lap, Todd set a new outright lap record of 116.141mph, while Harrison also broke the 116mph mark with a speed of 116.073mph as he held a narrow advantage of 0.614s.

Todd reduced the deficit to 0.451s with two laps to go, but as they began their seventh and last lap, Harrison was now ahead by 0.657s. Dunlop was 10.5s adrift, while Nathan Harrison and Coward continued to fight it out for fourth.

On the decisive final lap, Harrison kept his nose in front and held on to seal his first win of the 2022 meeting by a whisker from Todd.