MOTORCYCLING:New Zealander Bruce Anstey proved he is the undisputed King of the Isle of Man Superstock TT by winning the race for the third year in a row yesterday.
Anstey's Suzuki twice broke the Superstock lap record in taking the chequered flag and his overall time of one hour 11.56 minutes clipped more than a minute off the previous best.
The 37-year-old from Wellington secured his sixth victory in total on the island, with John McGuinness in second place and Ian Hutchinson third, both riding for Honda.
The winning margin over McGuinness was a commanding 40 seconds, with Hutchinson a further 22 seconds back. McGuinness will wonder what he had to do to win, having beaten the previous best time for the Superstock by 20 seconds yet never really being in contention to win.
Anstey showed his intentions from the outset by setting a new lap record of 17 minutes 38 seconds on the opening lap, a fact made even more remarkable given it was from a standing start.
McGuinness, the winner of the Superbike TT on Monday, was finding it increasingly difficult to stay with him in second place, while Hutchinson, Dubliner Martin Finnegan and Guy Martin were competing for third.
After the first lap, Anstey's lead was already 13 seconds, and it was pushed out to 23 seconds after lap two when the Kiwi bettered his new lap record by almost a second.
There was then further drama when Martin and Ryan Farquhar, who were going well, both ran out of fuel within moments of each other. Anstey had increased his lead by another four seconds by the end of the third lap, while Hutchinson had opened up a 21-second lead over Finnegan in the race for the last podium spot. There was no letting up by Anstey on the final lap, and again he was fastest round the course to the delight of the travelling contingent from New Zealand. Finnegan finished fourth, with local boy Conor Cummins in fifth and Mark Parrett sixth.
McGuinness led from start to finish to win the Superbike TT, the opening race at the festival, to make it 12 victories in total on the island. The win sees him rise to third place outright on the all-time list behind Mike Hailwood (14) and the legendary Joey Dunlop (26), and the manner of his victory suggested he could well threaten Hailwood's position by the end of the week.
The Morecambe rider had set the fastest time in practice, and showed his class to triumph on his HM Plant Honda by 26 seconds from Hydrex Honda's Guy Martin, with Ian Hutchinson on a HM Plant Honda in third, one minute and six seconds off the pace.
McGuinness was pursued all the way by Martin, the 25-year-old who recorded the second-fastest time in practice. Martin rode a fine race but could never get close enough to McGuinness to put any real pressure on him.
Isle of Man TT results
SUPERSTOCK TT: 1, Bruce Anstey 1h 11mins 56.29secs; 2, John McGuinness +00:40:30; 3, Ian Hutchinson +01:02:62; 4, Martin Finnegan +01:22:32; 5, Conor Cummins +02:03:97; 6, Mark Parrett +02:07:36; 7, James McBride +02:24:87; 8, Ian Pattinson +02:28:25; 9, Gary Carswell +02:28:25; 10, Dan Stewart +02:57:03.
SIDECAR A TT: 1, Dave Molyneux/Rick Long 1 hour 00mins 49.06 seconds; 2, John Holden/Andrew Winkle 1.00.55.56; 3, Steve Norbury/Scott Parnell 1.01.19.73; 4, Simon Neary/Stuart Bond 1.01.43.11; 5, Allan Schofield/Peter Founds 1.01.44.97; 6, Nigel Connole/Jamie Winn 1.02.20.23; 7, Conrad Harrison/Kerry Williams 1.02.32.54; 8, Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall 1.02.49.49; 9, Glyn Jones/Chris Lake 1.03.18.12; 10, Andy Laidlow/Patrick Farrance 1.03.20.19.
SUPERBIKE TT: 1 John McGuinness 1h 48mins 11.17secs; 2 Guy Martin 1h 48:37.11; 3 Ian Hutchinson 1h 49: 17.33; 4 Martin Finnegan 1h 49:35.71; 5 Ian Lougher 1h 50: 34.23; 6 Ryan Farquhar 1h 50:54.77; 7 Adrian Archibald 1h 51:27.25; 8 Conor Cummins 1h 52:19.00; 9 Ian Armstrong 1h 53:07.65; 10 Steve Plater 1h 53:30.84.
