TT 2018: Hickman takes maiden win in Superstock thriller

Peter Hickman took his debut Isle of Man TT victory in a thrilling Superstock race, which saw him hold off and overhaul Saturday’s superbike winner Michael Dunlop.

It wasn’t the best of starts for Hickman, who was just eighth quickest and almost 20 seconds down on early race leader Dean Harrison at Glen Helen on lap one after running on at Oak Tree.

With a lot of time to recover, Hickman set about getting his head down to recover the lost time while Harrison enjoyed a lead over almost five seconds over Michael Dunlop.

Hickman’s sheer pace saw him move second on lap two as he shattered the existing Superstock record with a 134.077mph average.

He moved into the lead at Cronk ny Mona but it all nearly went wrong in the pits as he lost time to both Dunlop and Harrison.

That saw Dunlop take the lead for the first time at Glen Helen on lap three, but just half a second split him and Dean Harrison with Hickman a further 0.7 seconds back in third.

Hickman was back in the lead by Ramsey but he and Dunlop were inseparable on the final two laps.

Just 0.1 separated the duelling duo at Ramsey on lap four, but an astonishing run over the mountain saw Hickman pull four seconds on Dunlop to take his first TT win, narrowly missing out on Dean Harrison’s outright lap record crossing the line with a 134.403mph making him the second fastest man in TT history.

Harrison crossed the line a comfortable third, a minute ahead of David Johnson in fourth who held off a hard challenge from JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Hillier.

Michael Rutter completed the top six ahead of Martin Jessopp with an impressive ride for Sam West seeing him take eighth.

Ivan Lintin was ninth ahead of an incredible ride from newcomer Davey Todd on the Burrows Engineering Suzuki.

1. Peter Hickman – Smiths BMW
2. Michael Dunlop – MD Racing BMW
3. Dean Harrison – Silicone Engineering Kawasaki
4. David Johnson – Gulf BMW
5. James Hiller – Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki
6. Michael Rutter – Bathams BMW
7. Martin Jessopp – Riders BMW
8. Sam West – PRL Worthingtons BMW
9. Ivan Lintin – Dafabet Devitt Kawasaki
10. Davey Todd – Burrows Engineering Suzuki