2022 Isle of Man TT | Hickman toasts terrific TT with fourth BMW win in Senior
Proving the three-year hiatus between TT events had done nothing to blunt his status as the today’s foremost road racer, Hickman comfortably consolidated his pre-TT favourite status by dominating the three 1000cc races (Superbike, Superstock, Senior) and prevailing in the Supertwins race too.
Indeed, having waltzed away from the opposition on the Gas Monkey FHO BMW M 1000 RR in the Superbike race a week ago, it was down to his rivals to step up to his benchmark coming into the Senior TT.
As it was a week ago, Dean Harrison represented his closest - and only - rival in terms of pure pace, but while the DAO Kawasaki rider made it down to Glen Helen for the first time in a quicker time than Hickman, the Louth rider was in front with four seconds in his favour by the time they’d crossed the beam at Ballaugh Bridge.
From here, Hickman used the remainder of the first lap to stretch the initiative, coming back around to Grandstand holding an 8.8secs lead.
From here, Hickman would incrementally massage the lead out to a peak of 19.3secs by the end of lap four, only allowing the tempo to relent towards the flag to win by 16.9secs.
Only the third rider in history to win four races in one TT event, Hickman matches Philip McCallen - who won four races in 1996 - and falls one shy of Ian Hutchinson’s record-breaking five wins in 2010. While he had no answer to Michael Dunlop in either Supersport race, Hickman nonetheless completes the TT with a clean sweep of six podiums.
Despite failing to top the rostrum over the week, Harrison nevertheless enjoyed a strong TT with a trio of podiums (3x second place results in Superbike, Supersport and Senior), the 16th of his career.
If the victory was decided fairly early on, then the battle for the final step on the podium by contrast went right to the wire in a thrilling tussle starring the Milenco by Padgetts Honda riders.
Eager to bounce back from a disappointing Superbike TT that saw both retire within seconds of one another, Conor Cummins and Davey Todd subsequently made up for it in the Senior TT as they duked it out on their Honda CBR1000RR-Rs.
While Cummins looked to have it safely in his grasp coming into the final lap, a late push from Todd saw the gap between them shrink to just 0.107 by Ballaugh. However, Cummins would up the pace from here, easing the gap out to deny his younger team-mate by 2.8secs.
Double Supersport winner Michael Dunlop once more appeared to suffer with the compromises of his ageing Suzuki machinery en route to fifth place, more than two minutes off the lead pace, while James Hillier recovered a top six finish on an otherwise difficult TT for him and the OMG Racing Yamaha team.
Ian Hutchinson brought it home for seventh on the Milwaukee BMW, ahead of Jamie Coward and John McGuinness, the ultra experienced 23-time race winner shaking off a 30secs penalty to creep into the top ten in ninth place.
Having stolen the headlines with his run to eighth in the Superbike TT last weekend, there was less fortune for Glenn Irwin in the Senior TT as he retired with technical issues while running tenth. His exit, however, gave another impressive debutant to shine as Nathan Harrison capped off his rookie week with a top ten finish on his Honda.
