Peter Hickman grabbed a 10th career Isle of Man TT victory with an apparently effortless win in the opening RL360 Superstock TT today.
The FHO Racing BMW rider put the hammer down right from the start of the three-lap race and was never headed, despite having a hard-charging Michael Dunlop in hot pursuit throughout the race. The result breaks Dunlop’s 100% winning streak at the 2023 Isle of Man TT, the Ulsterman having won the opening Supersport and Superbike TTs.
Dunlop brought his Hawk Racing Honda home 23 seconds behind Hicky at the end of the three-lap race, with Dean Harrison taking his third successive third place at TT 2023, a further 14 seconds back on his DAO Kawasaki.
“I’m really happy with that,” an elated Hickman said afterwards. “I’ve not ridden the (superstock) bike since Wednesday. It’s been working so well. We’ve got a really good setting so I did four laps on it and parked it up to focus on the superbike, which we’ve been having some trouble with.”
Hickman’s 10th TT win places him alongside legends like Giacomo Agostini and Stanley Woods in the all-time winners list. “It’s amazing,” he added. “Double figures is unbelievable. It is not necessarily a goal I set out to achieve when I started this but to be mentioned in the same sentence as names like Agostini is unreal.”
The RL 360 Superstock race was delayed due to poor visibility in the morning, meaning that the first Carole Nash Supertwin race, scheduled to go off at 14:00, has been moved back to 18:30 this evening.
