Isle of Man TT 2019 results: Peter Hickman wins RST Superbike race after red flag on lap three

An incident at Snugborough on lap three caused the opening race of the Isle of Man TT to be red flagged prematurely

Peter Hickman was declared the winner of the opening race of the 2019 Isle of Man TT, but the RST Superbike event was prematurely halted after an incident at Snugborough.

Race organisers confirmed that following the lap-three incident, results from the end of the second lap would be used as final standings, with no restart available due to the tight schedule remaining this week.

Hickman had been leading as the field headed for the pits at the end of the second lap by just 1.782 seconds ahead of Harrison, having renewed their rivalry from last year’s event.

However, the leaders had just reached Ballaugh Bridge on lap three when red flags were brought out due to an incident at Snugborough, which is approaching the third milestone of the track shortly before Union Mills.

It was later announced that 27-year-old English rider Daley Mathison had died due to injuries sustained in the crash.

The result repeated the top three from last year’s breathtaking Senior TT, when Hickman pipped Harrison on the final sixth lap with an all-time record of 135.542mph in one of the closest races ever seen.

And while it was only due to be a four-lap affair due to the packed schedule this week after mass delays to last week’s qualifying, it was very much more of the same for the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki rider. Harrison was fastest away from the Grandstand on the opening lap, with Hickman keeping him in check by around 1.5 seconds throughout the opening lap as Cummins slotted into third.

Hickman won the opening RST Superbike race at the Isle of Man TT (www.iomttraces.com)

But Harrison appeared to pull the pin on the start of the second lap, stretching the lead on the run to Glen Helen to nearly five seconds on the part of the track that suits the Kawasaki. With Hickman proving last year that the second half of the track suited his and the Smiths Racing BMW needs, all eyes were on the British Superbike rider to see if he could respond over the Mountain, which he duly did by taking nearly four seconds out of the gap to Harrison.

By the time he had reached Cronk-ny-Mona, Hickman had crucially taken a lead that he would hold until the pit stops at the end of the lap, which unknown to the riders at the time would count as the finish line once the red flags came out.

Harrison led the RST Superbike race until the end of the second lap (www.iomttraces.com)

Harrison and Cummins were running together on the road and the pair had reached Ballaugh Bridge just as the red flags came out, with organisers soon declaring Hickman the winner. Behind them, Hickman, Michael Rutter, Michael Dunlop, David Johnson, James Hillier, Gary Johnson and Ian Hutchinson had all made their way through Glen Helen and past the point of the accident at Snugborough, which is just short of the third milestone at Union Mills.

Hillier endured a slow start to the third lap and had dropped to seventh by Glen Helen, but due to the results being wound back to the end of the second lap, the Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki rider took fourth place ahead of Batham’s Honda’s Rutter, with Tyco BMW’s Dunlop in sixth.

Cummins took third to add another podium finish (www.iomttraces.com)

The rest of the top 10 was completed by David Johnson, Jamie Coward, Gary Johnson and Davey Todd.

Honda Racing’s 16-time TT winner Ian Hutchinson found himself down in 12th, while 23-time TT winner John McGuinness retired his Norton at the end of the first lap with an oil pressure problem.

RST Superbike results

1. Peter Hickman

2. Dean Harrison +1.782s

3. Conor Cummins +9.345s

4. James Hillier +41.719s

5. Michael Rutter +54.610s

6. Michael Dunlop +57.316s

7. Jamie Coward +34.100

8. David Johnson +35.049s

9. Gary Johnson +1:17.645s

10. Davey Todd