Hickman Storms to Senior Win

Peter Hickman put in a dominant performance to win the Senior TT and bring TT23 to an amazing close.

Hickman led from Ballaugh on lap one and never looked back as he left his rivals in the dust.

Heading through Glen Helen on lap one, Dean Harrison was just half a second ahead of Peter Hickman, with Michael Dunlop 2.2 seconds back, with James Hillier 2.795 seconds behind him and Conor Cummins completed the top six just 0.6 seconds behind.

By Ballaugh Hickman had leapfrogged Harrison to lead by 3.477 seconds, with Dunlop 1.706 seconds behind in third, while Cummins had risen into fourth, 6.407 seconds behind MD. Climbing out of Ramsey, Dunlop had gained on Harrison, while Hickman had stretched his lead to 4.752 seconds.

At the end of lap one, Hickman led Harrison by 6.120 seconds, with Dunlop a further 3.989 seconds back in third and Cummins 14.899 second back in fourth, Hillier and Brookes made up the top six.

At Glen Helen, Hickman had further stretched his lead out to 7.442 seconds over Harrison and was just inside lap record pace.

Coming out of Ramsey, Hickman was running away with it, 8.740 seconds ahead of Harrison, while Dunlop was slipping further behind the man in second, down 6.861 seconds in third.

After a stop in the pits, Hickman was 8.015 seconds ahead of Glen Helen, with Harrison 12.591 seconds ahead of MD on lap three. He built that lead over Harrison to 9.870 seconds at Bungalow, while Dunlop was 14.294 down in third.

By Ballaugh on lap four, Hickman was11.984 seconds clear of Harrison, while Dunlop had further dropped to 18.666 seconds back in third. Cummins meanwhile was in fourth 54.948 seconds back, with Brookes and McGuinness making up the top six.

At the end of the lap, with the bikes heading into the pits for the final time, Hickman’s lead was 12.380 seconds, with Harrison 23.639 seconds ahead of Dunlop.

But with Hickman looking set to win, he was just behind Dunlop on the road, with the question being if and when he would catch MD on the road.

Hickman caught MD just coming out of Kirk Michael and as he waited to pounce Dunlop required all of his experience to hold off the attack as he braked later than his rival, as they went through Quarry Bends, the Sulby Straight seemed to be the best place he would make the move and he did just that, as he shifted right and slipped up on the inside to just exemplify Hickman’s total domination over the race.

Coming through Bungalow, Hickman’s lead was 14.314 seconds over Harrison, rising to 15.935 seconds at the Grandstand as the race entered the final 37 3/4 miles of TT23.

At Glen Helen, Hickman was 18.398 seconds head, with MD 25.188 seconds back in third, Ramsey Rocket Cummins was in fourth, which given he the way he started race week, is a remarkable job for the home favourite.

On the final ride over the Mountain, Dunlop suddenly looked like he was going to try and pass Hickman, coming within a bike’s length at times before Hickman managed to find an extra bit of pace to hold him off.

Coming along Glencrutchery Road, Hickman finished 19.989 seconds ahead of Harrison, the Yorkshireman himself was 20.433 seconds ahead of Dunlop in third as the big three from this year’s racing again claimed all three podium places.

Cummins finished in fourth, with Josh Brookes in fifth, James Hillier in sixth and McGuinness finished back in seventh.

At the end of the week, Hickman and Dunlop end with four wins a piece. There is no doubt the Northern Irishman would have wanted to do the record this week, or at least match his uncle Joey, but it just wasn’t to be. Despite this, there is always next year and if you had’ve offered both these men four wins at the start of this year’s TT, they’d probably have snatched your hand off.