Isle of Man TT
Tuesday – RL360 Superstock TT
Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison won the RL360 Superstock TT on Tuesday evening at the 2025 Isle of Man TT. Victory for the Bradford man never looked in doubt as he stamped his authority all over the race from the outset.
Davey Todd finished second, 11.6s back on his 8Ten Monster Energy BMW, with Michael Dunlop well out of it in third, on his own MD racing BMW. It should be said, though, that it was Michael’s 47th TT podium, drawing him level with John McGuinness.
It had been yet another long and trying day on the Isle of Man, with gusting winds on the Mountain and damp roads (following last night’s heavy storm), causing delay after delay. We had been due to see a rescheduled SuperTwins race late in the afternoon, but when a rain shower swept across the west of the island, the programme was pushed back to the evening, and roads opened to allow commuters home from work.
Roads reclosed at 1800, and eventually, almost eight hours after it had initially been due to get away, a (cut to two laps) Superstock was go! And we were racing.
Unsurprisingly, it was Mr. Superstock – Davey Todd who led at Glen Helen on the opening lap from Harrison but by just 0.2s. James Hillier slotted into third on the Muc-Off Honda ahead of young Nathan Harrison – the Manx man keen to prove that Sunday’s impressive fourth place finish was no fluke. Mikey Evans was also on the leader board here but would soon fade as the race progressed.
Todd then pulled the lead out to a whole second by Ballaugh and doubled that to 2s by Ramsey. But if anyone thought the 8Ten bike was going to simply pull away from the field at that point, they were very much mistaken.
Dunlop had managed to pull himself into third by Ballaugh but was already 10s off the lead and out of the race for the win. He would later complain of intermittent issues with his blipper and similar tyre issues to those he experienced in Monday’s Superbike race.
Indeed, Todd was already catching Michael over the mountain and passed his fierce rival into Creg-ny-baa.
But MD’s issues were no concern of Todd and Harrison who were setting a frightening pace as they raced towards Douglas to start the final circuit. Each man recorded 133 mph opening laps; highly impressive standing start efforts.
As they went over the line, the difference was just 0.4s and it was anyone’s guess who would take the spoils.
Harrison then took the race by the scruff of the neck and absolutely thrashed his Fireblade out to Glen Helen in the opening miles of lap two. Todd was caught unawares and suddenly Deano had a 2.3s lead as he raced towards Kirk Michael.
At Ballaugh, the gap had increased by another second as Todd struggled to live with the pace. Climbing the Mountain, Harrison laid down the law, enjoying the best bit of a 10s advantage at the Bungalow. From that point the race was won, and the recently adopted Manx resident pushed to the flag to secure an enormously popular victory.
It was Harrison’s fourth TT win, but his first since taking the Senior in 2019. In the post-covid era, he has always been considered a potential winner but has struggled to get the job over the line against the BMW horde, with a fist full of podiums but no cigar.
Some doubts were beginning to creep in that while Harrison is cable of doing a very fast lap time, he may not quite have what it takes to string enough of them together to get one over on Dunlop, Todd and Hickman when push comes to shove.
But tonight he shut those whispers down. This was a statement win that proved he still has what it takes. He lapped at 135.692 mph on the race to home, setting his fastest ever lap on the way to giving Honda their first Superstock TT win for over ten years. That’s just over 4s off the outright lap record of Peter Hickman, incidentally also set on a Superstock machine.
While many of the Honda riders have lamented the Fireblades stability issues, Harrison has grabbed hold of the bars and ridden through any issues. Tonight he received his reward. In a class that cater for what are essentially road bikes with no lights, nothing could have pleased his Japanese bosses more than this.
Ecstatically, Harrison delivered the first burnout of this years festival in parc ferme, surrounded by jubilant Honda personnel. You could almost see the weight lift from his shoulders.
Dean Harrison
“Honestly, I got the hammer down from the start and sort of read my pit boards and I got P1 at the first and then P2. I just really put everything into the bike, we’ve changed quite a few things and the changes we’ve made really worked so well and we’ve been dialling it in all week. I’ve been third, I’ve been second so now I’ve got a 3-2-1! And to get another TT win is just magic. Honestly, I can’t thank the team enough. We’ve worked hard all week and we’ve been up and been down and we’ve tried all sorts, so paying them back with a win is just fantastic. Honestly, them lot being happy makes me happy. I can’t thank them enough. It’s been a long time coming and now I’m a four-time TT winner, which is a big thing for me.”
Havier Beltran – Honda Team Manager
“We’re not racing a Superstock in our British Superbike Championship programme and to win with it here at the birthplace of Honda’s competition story, aside from our year-round competition programme, is amazing. It just shows that what we’ve got as a base bike is pretty incredible, and for Dean to do what he’s done here with it is testament to that. And testament to all the hard work that he and the team have put in to help develop it to where it is. It’s great to see as a manufacturer. Dean has always got on the bike and gone hard from the start, you can’t ask for any more than that. He is trying so hard and riding so well that it really had to come for him, he has been on the cusp for a while now and I think that this win is richly deserved.”
Davey Todd
“I had to deal with so much traffic during the race and finding my way through definitely cost me time but I’m not using that as an excuse, Dean rode really, really well and hats off to him. We can definitely make improvements to the bike for the second race, as it wasn’t quite working as well as in the Superbike race the other day. Conditions were sketchy in the morning warm-up, so it was definitely the right decision to move the race to later in the day and the organisers made the right call. There were a few damp patches, but it was good enough to go racing and it’s good to get another podium for 8TEN Racing.”
While the front three cleared off from the rest, there was a highly competitive scrap behind. James Hillier, Conor Cummins, Ian Hutchinson, Nathan Harrison and Dominic Herbertson were all involved. In the end they finished in that order, with just over 10s covering five of them. The pace was hot, with each of them lapping at over 130 mph, and all but Nathan recording a 131.
Josh Brookes finished a solid eighth, managing a 130.760 mph lap but was almost eight-seconds off that battle.
David Johnson came home in 14th, a little off the pace he displayed in Monday’s fine performance in the Superbike TT, but finishing just in front of John McGuinness, who was also slower on Tuesday than he had been in the race week opening Superbike TT. The TT legend was stoked for his team-mate.
John McGuinness MBE
“The bike never missed a beat and I felt that I was riding okay and when you look at it on paper it looks very average. But, taking the positives out of it, it’s another silver replica and my 113th finish. I’m a little disappointed. Weirdly, I think I’m going good but it’s not showing on the timesheets. It’s been a long old day with all the delays, so respect to the organisers, they got it right in the end. But, really, I’m just pleased for Dean and the team. I always knew that he could do it, but that was incredible pace. When he passed me on Lap 1 he was in another universe, and I’ve been around here a lot, so I was just like: ‘Go on, Dean, get stuck in!’ There’s two sides to the job, really, to be slightly disappointed with my result but over the moon for Dean and for Honda.”
Mitch Rees was again raising some eyebrows on the Padgett’s bike. The Kiwi newcomer added another MPH to his lap speed, banking a 125.757 lap on his way to 23rd on Tuesday night.
Now that Dean Harrison has that win Monkey off his back, you would have to say his potential to take more silverware this week has only just increased. The second Superstock race is currently pencilled in for Friday, where he’ll be hot favourite after tonight’s performance.
