Peter Hickman emerged the victor from a dramatic Isle of Man TT Superbike race in which Michael Dunlop was denied what appeared to be a certain record-breaking win.
Dunlop, who equalled his uncle Joey’s all-time wins tally of 26 with his success in Saturday’s Supersport race, had established a 25-second lead by the end of lap four but an issue with his visor after his pit-stop meant he lost a significant amount of time and dropped down to fourth place.
The 35-year-old was forced to pull up at the start of his fifth lap, remove his gloves, take off his helmet and adjust the side pod on his vIsor.
Second-placed Davey Todd also dropped crucial time in the pits at the same stage of the race, allowing Hickman to take advantage of his rivals’ misfortune, hit the front ahead of Dean Harrison and pull clear of the chasing pack on the final two laps.
The FHO Racing BMW rider’s eventual winning margin over Todd was 5.8 seconds, with Honda Racing’s Harrison completing the podium positions, 5.2 seconds in arrears of the Milwaukee BMW man.
Dunlop finished fourth, a further 15 seconds adrift, despite setting a new lap record for the Superbike class on his final circuit with the fastest lap of the race at 135.970mph.
For Hickman, it was a 14th TT success of his career and a third in the Superbike race, the Lincolnshire racer having also occupied the top step in 2019 and 2022.
The British Superbike rider’s victories in the feature ‘big bike’ races also include wins in the blue riband Senior race in 2018, 2022 and 2023.
Todd led the Superbike race by 2.25 seconds from Dunlop after lap one as the leading riders played out a thrilling battle on the timesheets, separated by fractions of a second in the early stages.
His Hawk Honda Racing rival mounted a charge on his second circuit, producing a scintillating lap record at 135.543mph, which he later bettered, to lead Hickman by nine seconds, with Todd dropping back to third.
Dunlop incrementally extended his advantage before that late drama unfolded and Hickman assumed control at the head of the field.
