IAN Hutchinson has today written himself into the TT history books.
He won the second Monster Energy Supersport TT by the narrowest of margins to become only the second rider in history to win four TT races in a week.
His achievement matches that of the Irish rider Philip McCallen who won four TTs in the 1996 meeting. With one race to go - tomorrow’s Dainese Senior TT - Hutchinson will start as favourite to become the only rider in history to win his fifth race in a week.
The quietly spoken Hutchinson was “really pleased” with the result and said it had been the hardest race of the week so far.
However, a heavy cold almost put an end to his hopes and the Yorkshire rider struggled throughout today’s 4-lap race and felt “not too good” at the end of the race.
“I’ve had this for a few days and I was really struggling today. I’ll be taking something tonight and hope I feel better tomorrow.”
Once again, Hutchinson’s 7th TT victory was achieved by the narrowest of margins, this time beating Michael Dunlop who - despite a final last lap record - finished agonisingly 1.4 seconds behind the winner.
To add to the historic achievement, Hutchinson was greeted at the finish by Mr Honda, visiting the Island to see history in the making. Mr Honda told him, “This is absolutely brilliant - Honda could not have wished for a better result.”
Scot Keith Amor was third, despite an electrical problem which caused a slight misfire. Guy Martin was 4th, John McGuinness 5th, local rider Conor Cummins 6th, William Dunlop 7th, Bruce Anstey 8th, Ryan Farquhar 9th, and 10th another local rider Dan Kneen.
Photo: Ian Hutchinson at
Ballacraine this afternoon (Bill Dale)
