Dean Harrison surged to the top of Isle of Man TT qualifying on Friday with a 134.877mph lap, turning a week of fast times and hard knocks into a clear warning to the field before racing begins. His pace in cooler, windy conditions put him out front for Sunday’s six-lap Superbike race and strengthened his case as the early man to beat for both the Superbike and Senior events.
That is why searches around John Mcguinness are picking up now: the opening races are about to start, and the front of the grid has already been shaped. Harrison, who has won two Superstock TTs and one each in the Superbike, Senior and Supertwin classes, had already shown his speed earlier in the week with a 133.925mph lap on his Honda Fireblade Superbike, and he went faster on Friday than anyone else as the qualifying leaderboard settled into place.
Peter Hickman was the closest challenger, second quickest on his 8TEN Racing BMW with a 132.712mph lap, and he remains a real threat despite nerve damage to his shoulder from a practice crash at last year’s meeting. Josh Brookes was third fastest on his DAO Racing Honda, another reminder that the fight behind Harrison is broad enough to punish any lapse once the racing starts.
The week itself was not a clean build-up to opening day. It was overshadowed by the death of racer Daniel Ingham, several other incidents that hospitalised competitors, and a Monday practice crash that sent eight spectators to hospital. Two incidents involving sidecar crews then forced organisers to remove the sidecar class from the rest of this year’s schedule, while racing was called off on Saturday before the programme was reset for Sunday.
Harrison has the best qualifying form and the strongest recent TT record, but the real test now is whether he can carry that speed into race traffic and pressure. Hickman is still there, Brookes is close enough to matter, and the first answer comes with the six-lap Superbike race on Sunday.
