TT 2019: Dream Senior victory for Dean Harrison as Peter Hickman suffers heartbreak in dramatic finale

Dean Harrison won a dramatic Dunlop Senior TT on Friday for his maiden victory in the blue riband class.
Dean Harrison celebrates his victory in the Dunlop Senior TT with runner-up Peter Hickman (left) and Conor Cummins.Dean Harrison celebrates his victory in the Dunlop Senior TT with runner-up Peter Hickman (left) and Conor Cummins.
Dean Harrison celebrates his victory in the Dunlop Senior TT with runner-up Peter Hickman (left) and Conor Cummins.

The Silicone Engineering Racing rider capitalised on race leader Peter Hickman’s misfortune, who ran into problems with his Smiths Racing BMW.

It was Kawasaki’s first major victory in the class since Mick Grant won in 1975.

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Harrison said: "I'm over the moon. You never know in this race, anything can happen here. I just kept going at the same pace.

Michael Dunlop finished fourth in the Senior TT on the Tyco BMW.Michael Dunlop finished fourth in the Senior TT on the Tyco BMW.
Michael Dunlop finished fourth in the Senior TT on the Tyco BMW.

"I kind of lost my momentum midweek but I started to get it back on Thursday when we ran all those races.

"To do it over a full distance - six laps with two pit-stops - makes it very special," he added.

Hickman had set the pace throughout after a sizzling opening lap of 134.28mph to move into a lead of 2.2 seconds. He stretched his lead to 17.6 seconds over Harrison by the end of lap four, with Manx rider Conor Cummins holding third.

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It seemed as though Hickman – a treble winner this week – was on course to retain his Senior crown following his record-breaking victory in 2018, but his lead had been whittled down to 7.9 seconds by Harrison at Glen Helen on lap five.

It soon became clear the five-time TT winner had hit trouble and Harrison soon took over the lead. Hickman battled on and managed to hold on over the final two laps to earn the runner-up spot, 53 seconds behind Harrison. Cummins was only 5.8 seconds further back, while Michael Dunlop finished fourth on the Tyco BMW.

The Ballymoney man was 27 seconds behind Cummins, while James Hillier clawed his way into fifth on the Quattro Plant/Wicked Coatings Kawasaki after losing a lot of time in the early part of the race.

Hillier overhauled the impressive Davey Todd, who finished sixth on the Penz13 BMW. Todd, last year’s top TT newcomer, also set his fastest ever lap at 131.49mph.

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Michael Rutter was seventh on the Bathams/Aspire-Ho Honda while the top eight was completed by Jamie Coward on the Prez Racing Yamaha.

Waterford man Brian McCormack rode a brilliant race to take ninth on his BMW ahead of Dominic Herbertson.

Shaun Anderson (NW Racing BMW) and Derek Sheils (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki) were 12th and 13th respectively behind Gary Johnson in 11th on the RAF & Reserves Kawasaki.