Johnson Wins His First TT
Cycle News Staff | June 9, 2011
Honda-mounted Gary Johnson won his first Isle of Man TT today, the Brit beating John McGuinness by 8.4 seconds in the second Monster Energy Supersport race.Johnson led the race from start and was already three seconds clear of McGuinness by the first checkpoint at Glen Helen on the first lap. Pre-race favorite Michael Dunlop went out early as he was forced to stop at Ballacraine to make adjustments to his bike. His first lap took him almost 46 minutes.Johnson’s opening lap of 125.587 mph gave him the lead by some 10 seconds over a battle for second between McGuinness, Martin, Donald, Bruce Anstey and Dan Kneen, all separated by just six seconds.Johnson continued to extend his lead and he went quicker still on his second circuit of the Mountain Course, a lap of 125.892 mph putting him 15 seconds clear of McGuinness. Donald was the man on the move, though, the Australian relegating Martin to fourth with Kneen was also moving up the leaderboard, the Marks Bloom Racing Yamaha man overhauling Anstey for fifth.
As the leaders made their pit stops, news from Ramsey Hairpin came through that the red flag was being shown with a number of riders stopping, including David Hewson, Dan Cooper, Bill Callister and David Madsen-Mygdal – but there was no word from race control of any issue and the race at the front continued. The riders who who stopped eventually got going, and were later credited the time lost.Going into the final lap Johnson maintained an 11-second advantage over Donald, who was now edging away. Kneen was out at Crosby while Donald nibbled away at Johnson’s lead throughout the lap. But his Honda expired at Signpost, less than two miles from home, allowing McGuinness to move up to second with Martin, Amor and Anstey all promoted up the order to third, fourth and fifth, respectively.The results mean that McGuinness now has 76 points at the top of the TT Championship, 17 clear of Amor, whilst Ian Mackman’s retirement has closed up the battle for the Privateers Championship. He remains on 61 points with Wylie on 50 and Buckley on 49.
