Peter Hickman has dominated the opening race of the 2022 Isle of Man TT to take victory in the Superbike TT by nearly over 40 seconds from Dean Harrison and Michael Dunlop.
Putting in an incredible effort from as soon as the flag dropped for the first time in three years, the Gas Monkey FHO BMW rider was able to pull out a lead right away and then maintain it through six flawless laps of the 37.73-mile circuit.
Hickman, who started the race 10th on the road, pulled out an early lead over rivals Harrison and Padgetts Honda rider Davy Todd, with a big gap early on that he was then able to take his time to protect right until the end in something of a change from his usual strategy of charging hard in the closing laps.
“What a race!” Hickman, now a six-time winner, beamed afterwards. “The BMW was absolutely awesome right from the opening lap, and I thought I would do the opposite to what I normally do and go fast from the opening lap. We needed to law the law down early, that was the plan, and I was able to get my head down and get a bit of a gap straight away.
“Once you’ve got a bit of a gap here, it’s nice – you can chill a little bit, short shift a little bit to save some fuel and the engine, and honestly the bike worked perfectly everywhere. It looks the part and it goes well.
“Happy to get the first race underway and done.”
Harrison, who went off at number two and quickly caught and passed John McGuinness on the road, was then left to have a lonely race as he took on the clock. He was 18 seconds ahead of 19-time winner Michael Dunlop, who admitted afterwards that he was somewhat embarrassed at having nothing to bring to the table against Hickman and Harrison.
Ian Hutchinson was fourth, narrowly winning a back and forth battle against McGuinness by only 10 seconds after nearly 227 miles of racing, as the 23-time winner came home in fifth place in his 100th TT start.
British Superbike front runner Glenn Irwin was the best of the newcomers, putting on an exceptional performance to break into the top eight, just behind privateers Jamie Coward (who joined the 130mph club) and James Hillier.
There were a number of potential podium candidates who joined Davy Todd in failing to finish the race, however, with Lee Johnston and Todd’s team-mate Conor Cummins all not getting to see the chequered flag.
Worryingly for tyre manufacturer Dunlop, there have been initial reports suggesting that Todd’s issue was a tyre failure, something that plagued the company at last month’s North West 200 and saw it withdraw its slick tyre option from the TT, instead forcing their riders to use superstock-spec treaded rubber.
The next solo races of the TT week take place on Monday, with supersport and superbike classes both competing over four laps of the Mountain Circuit, while the sidecars take to the track for the first of their two races this afternoon.
