2024 Isle of Man TT
Senior TT
The 2024 Isle of Man TT was brought to a close on Saturday evening with a dramatic Senior TT. Davey Todd followed up his maiden win in last Thursday’s Superstock TT by taking the biggest prize of all; the Senior TT. The Senior is the most sought-after Trophy in road racing and THE race you want to win on the Isle of Man. Today’s victory is the highlight of the 28-year-old’s career to date and marks his coming of age at the top table of international road racing.
Josh Brookes unlocked race pace we have never seen before and lapped comfortably in the 133mph bracket to finish on the podium, 39s down on his fellow BMW rival. Dean Harrison brought the Honda Racing Fireblade home in 3rd, 26s behind Brookes.
The day’s programme had been a tedious one, with delay after delay due to poor weather continuing the theme of the week. Eventually, racing got underway at 1 pm and from then on, things ran relatively smoothly until a red flag caused a stoppage in the Supertwins race.
A four-lap Senior was then pencilled in for a 6 pm start, and by that stage, it was a weary mob who lined the trackside waiting to see the ‘big one’.
Michael Dunlop had already won two and was aiming to become the first man in history to win three TTs in a day. Jamie Coward withdrew from the big race, stating that he had been suffering from tendonitis throughout the fortnight and had been unable to feel his hand on the handlebars in the earlier races. It just wasn’t safe to continue.
With Coward missing from the start line, John McGuinness and Dean Harrison were together in traditional Honda colours as they awaited the flag to drop. It was a stirring image that evoked memories of Joey Dunlop and Ron Haslam when they represented the big H back in the early 80s; they had been decked out in similar red and blue finery.
Right from the outset, the pace was frantic. At Glen Helen, it was Hickman who led, but Todd was just a tenth off him. Michael Dunlop was riding hard to stay in touch and was 2.3s behind them. But MD was catching traffic already, and there was a sharp intake of breath from Lee Johnston in the commentary booth when Micky D passed both Ian Hutchinson and James Hillier on the run down to the bottom of Barregarrow. Somehow he got through, but it wasn’t for the faint-hearted.
Dean Harrison and Josh Brookes were right behind the front three, ready to pounce if anything went wrong. And that’s exactly what happened.
Dunlop lost a second here and a second there to Hickman and Todd on the run to Ramsey on that opening lap, and you just got the feeling that this wasn’t going to be his race. Hicky and Todd seemed to be in control, but mind you, you would never have said that Dunlop was completely out of it.
However, the Ballymoney man never made the Bungalow, and it was reported that he was stopped on the Mountain. The clutch on the DAO racing Fireblade had given up. And just like that, his sensational history-making TT was over.
But there was no time for sentiment, as all eyes were on the front of the race. Todd was good, but Hickman was better. He seemed to just have a little more than his younger rival, eking out the advantage a little more at every check.
Josh Brookes was flying and, at Ramsey, was just a whisker behind Harrison. At the Bungalow, the Australian was now 3.2s ahead of the Honda man and took over the 3rd position vacated by Dunlop
Three BMWs filled the podium positions, and it made for great viewing. Something about the manner in which Hickman, Todd, and Brookes wrestle the M 1000 RR around the Mountain course looks impressively mean in a way the other bikes don’t.
The leaderboard stabilised a little as the race began to settle down. But perhaps someone should have given Hicky a board telling him to settle down. For he recorded record sector times at each check on the 2nd lap, and the commentary team was talking up the prospect of a new outright lap record; what a way to end the fortnight!
But alas, just as the big Lincolnshire man was catching his team-mate Josh Brookes on the road, he slipped off at Ginger Hall. And just like Dunlop, his TT was over. James Hillier did extremely well to avoid the stricken BMW as he negotiated the wreckage but Peter was on his feet immediately and was reported to be in the pub enjoying a drink with Glenn Irwin as the race continued.
It brought to a close a disappointing TT for Hickman. He leaves the island with just one win this year. This seems like a ridiculous thing to say, as a TT win will be the pinnacle of many a rider’s career. But Hickman came into 2024 off the back of 8 wins in 2 years, and Michael Dunlop and Davey Todd fans will tell you he didn’t deserve his SBK victory this year due to the 4th lap pit drama they endured.
The leaderboard was really spreading out now, and with Hickman gone, Todd had a 20s advantage over Brookes. Harrison was in a safe third, 8s down on Josh but 20s clear of James Hillier.
The pit stops were fairly routine, with no real drama for the leaders. Unfortunately, Shaun Anderson received a 30-second pitlane speeding penalty, which he later regretted.
The gaps between the front runners at the front were substantial. As they headed out into the second half of the race, Todd et al. were more concerned with concentrating on consolidating their positions and bringing it home than catching one another. By that stage, the wind had dropped, and the mountain was bathed in fine, early summer evening sunlight. It made for fantastic scenes, and fans and marshals showed their appreciation around the circuit by waving and clapping.
However, there was some sport left in the fight for 5th, which was being disputed by Mike Browne and John McGuinness. It was a real coming of age on a superbike for Browne, who joined the 130mph club on his ‘In competition’ Aprillia, of all things.
But it was the wily old Fox McPint who made his experience count, and he took control at Ballaugh on the final lap. From there on, he kept the position to finish yet another TT in style with a solid 5th.
In the end, Todd’s winning margin was 39s, with Brookes 26s up on Harrison.
James Hillier came home a comfortable 4th ahead of McGuinness and Browne.
Honda Racing’s Nathan Harrison bagged a great 7th, just 0.4s up on Shaun Anderson on the Team Classic Suzuki. Anderson was left rueing that 30s penalty.
Todd’s fine victory was the first Senior TT win for the TAS team since Adrian Archibald lifted the Trophy in 2004. In the 20 years since then, the team have triumphed in many races on the IOM with many riders (Cameron Donald won both his TTs with the Moneymore concern). But the Senior has escaped them for 2 decades now, and it was a welcome sight to see old Hector Neill in the winner’s enclosure. Hector was at the helm of the team for many years but has stepped back in recent times, and his son, Phillip, has taken over. The TAS team have been stalwarts of the TT, and there will be few who would begrudge Todd and the Neills their success this evening.
Davey Todd’s win bodes well for the future of the TT. Not only has it been refreshing to have a winner that isn’t Dunlop, Hickman or Harrison this year. The famous victory serves to show aspiring young riders that when everything clicks, then it is possible to make the leap in performance and join in with the best. Todd has worked hard in recent times and dedicated himself to joining the elusive club.
His endeavours prove that beating these legends and reaching their level is not impossible. You just have to be at the very top of your game to stand a chance.
Dean Harrison – P3
“To end TT 2024 with another podium is great; the team have worked flat out for so long now, and it means the world to me to reward that hard work with another podium. There is just so much potential to this new bike, we need to unlock a bit more of that potential to go a bit better but I am going home happy that is for sure. We worked hard on the pit stops during the week, and the slick pit stop certainly helped with that result. I’m so happy for Nathan, too, to get a good result. There are so many positives to come out of the fortnight.”
John McGuinness MBE – P5
“I’m happy with my TT, to do my fastest ever total race time in the six lapper at the start of the event, my fastest ever superstock lap and to get a top-five finish in the senior, I’m happy. I’m in a really good place; the bike is mint, and I just love riding it. The conditions for the Senior were just perfect, too, so to put my factory Honda leathers on and ride the best course in the world is just unbeatable. The team made a mistake in the pits, but the lad who did would take a bullet for me, and I won’t hear a bad word said about it. It’s one of those things. Every time I turn up to see the bike, it’s immaculately turned out, and I am buzzing. Big congrats to Dean, he’s on the pipe and riding awesome, and for Nathan to get a seventh is fantastic, the kid deserves it.”
2024 Isle of Man TT Results
Senior TT
- Davey Todd – BMW
- Josh Brookes – BMW +39.084s
- Dean Harrison – Honda +65.294s
- James Hillier – Honda +102.67s
- John McGuinness – Honda +130.51s
- Mike Browne – Aprilia +137.675s
- Nathan Harrison – Honda +188.095s
- Shaun Anderson – Suzuki +188.498s
- Michael Rutter – BMW +199.021s
- Paul Jordan – Honda +202.252s
- Rob Hodson – Honda +208.002s
- Ian Hutchinson – Honda +226.999s
- Brian McCormack – BMW +238.785s
- Julian Trummer – Honda +264.559s
- Samuel West – Suzuki +285.561s
