Dan Stewart and the SMT Racing team were denied a top six finish in Sunday's Superbike TT race when a holed radiator on the fifth lap caused him to retire. The Barrow-in-Furness rider had worked his way excellently up into the top six, aided by his personal best lap of the Mountain Course, only for a stone to pierce the radiator at Ballaugh with just one and a half laps to go.
Delayed by 45 minutes, the 6-lap Superbike race finally got underway at 3pm on Sunday afternoon and an opening lap of 128.005mph saw Dan slot into tenth place but he got into his stride as the race wore on and continued to work his way up the leaderboard. By lap three, half race distance, he was up to eighth and had caught factory Honda rider Michael Rutter on the road, the Midlands rider having started ten seconds ahead.
The duo circulated in close formation on the fourth lap, where there were joined by the factory Yamaha of Conor Cummins, and with his best ever lap of the 37 and 3/4-mile course, 129.077mph, Dan moved up to a superb sixth place. With two factory riders behind him, Rutter and William Dunlop, Dan looked set to at least equal his best ever TT result of sixth but a stone kicked up by the rear wheel of Cummins at Ballaugh on the final lap lap saw the temperature of the engine increase rapidly and he was forced to stop at Sulby village a mile further down the road, a holed radiator the cause.
Speaking afterwards, Dan said; "The race was going really well and although I was a bit slack on the first lap, I soon got going and was moving up the leaderboard nicely. Once I got settled in, I was really happy with the pace, especially after the first pit stop, and to lap in excess of 129mph on the fourth lap was especially pleasing as my previous best laps have come at the beginning of a race. I felt strong and was enjoying the battle on the roads with Michael and Conor but the latter was holding me up a bit and so I was trying to get by him on that fifth lap. I got close to him at Ballaugh and that's when the stone must have been kicked up as the temperature shot up immediately after. It's no-ones fault and it's just one of those things but it's a real shame as no one handed me the position I was , I rode hard and I was running with some good company."
Team owner Robin Croft added; "We're all feeling a bit deflated to be honest as the race was going so well. I can't compliment Dan for his riding or the boys at the pit stops enough - they all did exceptionally well. The second pit stop had to be one of the fastest of the day whilst Dan impressed me greatly with his riding but a stone in the radiator is one of those things. We're taking the positives from our first solo race at TT2013 though and Dan did a great job and we were delighted with how it was all panning out so we'll bounce back and go for it again tomorrow."
Dan has two races on Monday with the 4-lap Supersport (10.45) and Superstock (14.00) races.
Photo - Pacemaker Press International.
