Ian Hutchinson became only the second man to win four TT Races in a week when he clinched a thrilling second Monster Energy Supersport race on Thursday afternoon by just 1.45s, the fourth race in a row this week to be decided by just a handful of seconds. The Padgetts Honda rider went toe to toe with Michael Dunlop throughout the four laps and, having lost the lead for the first time at Ballaugh on the final lap, charged over the Mountain to keep the young Northern Ireland rider at bay. Dunlop had the consolation of claiming a new lap record at a stunning 127.836mph with Keith Amor claiming another third place. With the Island bathed in beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies, conditions were perfect, save for blustery winds in places, for some high-speed excitement and that’s exactly what everyone was treated to. Hutchinson showed his intent right from the off and led through Glen Helen although, as expected, it was again close, his advantage over Guy Martin just 0.4s. Dunlop was only a further 0.75s back with John McGuinness in fifth and Ryan Farquhar in sixth. Once more, only 4.5s separated the top ten at the first timing point. By Ramsey Hairpin, Hutchinson’s lead was still small, only 0.52s, but Dunlop had pushed Martin back to third with Bruce Anstey now up to fourth showing good form on the Relentless by TAS Suzuki. At the end of the lap, Hutchinson’s lead was up to 5.4s as he lapped at 126.652mph. Dunlop was over five seconds clear of Martin with Keith Amor, Anstey and John McGuinness rounding out the top six. It was nip and tuck on the second lap and whilst Dunlop could significantly eat into Hutchinson’s lead all the way to Ramsey, bringing the gap down to 1.4s at the Hairpin, the man of the week could pull away over the Mountain, his short circuit prowess coming into play. Indeed, at the end of the second lap, his lead had increased slightly to 5.77s, Martin still in third and falling back from Dunlop but still pulling away from Amor. Local hero Conor Cummins had fought his way up to fifth with Anstey now in sixth but it was still close with only six seconds splitting Cummins in fifth and McGuinness in eighth. A quicker pit stop by Dunlop saw him take time out of Hutchinson but by Glen Helen he found himself further adrift to the tune of 6.4 seconds. However, he again proved the stronger on the twists and turns to Ramsey and the lead was only 1.81s as they rounded the Hairpin for the penultimate time. Hutchinson edged away up and down the Mountain but as the riders went on to their final lap, the gap was only 3.19s and we were set for another thrilling finale. Martin was also under extreme pressure from Amor, only one second now splitting the duo, with Cummins still in fifth but McGuinness now back up to sixth. At Glen Helen, Hutchinson still led but it was down to 1.9s and at Ballaugh, Dunlop led for the first time. He’d built on that on the run to Ramsey Hairpin and held a 1.82s lead as they headed up the Mountain but Hutchinson was back in front at the Bungalow by 0.49s! As everyone’s become accustomed to this week, it was going to be another nail biting finish and as Hutchinson flashed across the line, he had an agonising wait for Dunlop, who’d started 50 seconds behind. Hutchinson broke Amor’s three day-old lap record at 127.611mph but Dunlop went even quicker at 127.836mph. However, it wasn’t enough and he had to settle for second by 1.45s. Amor put in another 126mph+ lap to overhaul Martin and claim his fourth TT podium whilst McGuinness edged out Cummins for fifth by the minuscule margin of 0.23s. William Dunlop had another strong ride into seventh with Anstey, Ryan Farquhar and Dan Kneen rounding out the top ten. Hutchinson’s victory has seen him already wrap up the overall TT Championship with an unassailable 36-point lead but the race for the inaugural Privateers Championship is still very much on. It was American Jimmy Moore who was first home in today’s race in 15th overall, one place ahead of Derek Brien with Olie Linsdell in 18th and Ben Wylie in 19th. However, it’s James McBride who continues to lead overall with 60 points with Moore now in second on 54 and Brien third on 46. More, from a press release issued by Keith Amor’s publicist: Amor takes brilliant podium finish in Supersport TT Keith Amor took a brilliant third place finish in today’s second Supersport TT race, the Falkirk ace continuing his run of top six finishes at this year’s event. Riding the Kojak Racing Honda, Keith came through from an opening lap fourth to overhaul Guy Martin on the final lap to secure his fourth podium finish around the Mountain Course. Blustery conditions in the morning had eased for the 4-lap race by the 2.45pm start time and with warm sunshine and bright blue skies, it was again a great scene for racing and, keen to make amends for the mistakes he made in Monday’s race, Keith put in an opening lap of 124.922mph to lie in fourth place. Just over four seconds adrift of Martin, Keith went quicker on the second lap at 125.150mph but so too did his Honda rival and the gap was 7.28s as they came in to refuel at half race distance. However, a brilliant pit stop by the team saw Keith gain some time and as they went in to the second half of the race, Keith began to make his move. A third lap of 120.320mph saw him claw back almost all of the deficit and as they went in to the final 37.73-miles, Keith was only a second behind and by Glen Helen on the final lap he had taken over the final podium position by 1.4seconds. By Ramsey, he had extended his advantage to 4 seconds and with a superb final lap of 126.508mph, he held on comfortably, to take the third place by over 5 seconds for yet another TT podium. Speaking afterwards, a delighted Keith said: “I’m really pleased to have taken that third place today and although I had an electrical problem with the bike, I kept going and am well chuffed to be on the podium. The quickshifter wasn’t working right from the first lap onwards so that slowed me down a wee bit and there were a few yellow flags, which I obviously slowed right down for but, apart from that, it was a really enjoyable ride. The handling of the Ten Kate Honda was amazing, and the Dunlop tyres were superb so the bike was so much fun to ride but I just wished I’d have pushed a bit harder on the opening lap.” “After the mistakes I made on Monday, I was really conscious of not doing the same again so maybe I was a bit cautious but it’s great to be back on the podium again although I’m getting a bit fed up with third – I just need to take a couple more steps! A few months ago, I couldn’t have envisaged this and this result is testament to all the people I’ve got around me. My family and friends have been absolutely brilliant and the boys in the team have worked so hard to get me here so this result is for all of them.” Keith will be back out on the HM Plant Honda for Friday’s 6-lap Senior race, the final event of the 2010 TT races. More, from a press release issued by John McGuinness’ publicist: Fifth place for McGuinness in second Supersport TT John McGuinness put in another fine ride in today’s 4-lap second Supersport race when he finished in fifth place on the Padgetts Honda. The Morecambe ace was embroiled in an incredibly close dice for 5th to 8th place with positions changing all the time but a final lap of 125.732mph saw him secure 5th and edge out Conor Cummins by just 0.23s! Blustery winds on the Mountain were the only concern for the riders as the Island was basking in clear blue skies and warm sunshine once more and with an opening lap of 124.771mph, John slotted in to a fighting sixth place, only 1.3s adrift of fourth place. There was nothing to choose between the riders on time and such was the closeness of the racing, John was pushed back to eighth on the second lap although just six seconds separated the riders in 5th to 8th places. Another superb pit stop by the Padgetts team saw him make up time on his rivals and as he headed in to his final lap he was back up to sixth and five seconds behind Cummins. However, on the final lap, John really flew and with a speed of 125.732mph, he managed to overtake his Manx rival and get the better of him by less than one quarter of a second! Talking later, John said: “I was the best of the rest today I guess! It was a fantastic race with a fantastic pace being set and whilst it might not have quite been the result I would have liked, I really enjoyed the race and had a lot of fun out there. I can’t wave a magic wand but I’m carrying about 14 stone and it’s like carrying my son around on my back compared to some of these lightweight jockeys! The track was quite dusty when we did our practice lap earlier in the day but the sidecars had cleaned it up a fair bit and I was just that little bit lazy on the first lap which was enough for the podium runners to get clear.” “Hutchy overtook me fair and square going in to Greeba Castle and I tried to hang on to him but he’s on fire this week, practically untouchable, and he disappeared. Fair play to him, he’s on a real crest of a wave and it’s a real credit to the Padgetts team – as a team we’ve had a fantastic week. The bike worked superbly well today and we haven’t had one single problem – between Hutchy and myself, we’ve completed every single practice lap and every single race lap on the Padgetts bikes and I’m really pleased for Clive and the whole Padgetts team. They put so much in to their racing and they’re fully deserving of their success this week.” John now has one more race at the 2010 TT Races and will be back out on the HM Plant Honda in tomorrow’s 6-lap Senior race, the Blue Riband event of the TT festival. More, from a press release issued by Ryan Farquhar’s publicist: Top ten for Farquhar again in Supersport TT Ryan Farquhar maintained his 100% record of finishing in the top ten in the 2010 Isle of Man TT Races when he took a solid ninth place in Thursday afternoon’s second Supersport race. The KMR Kawasaki rider battled hard throughout the race and ended the race just 3.71s down on eighth placed Bruce Anstey. Ryan’s day started with a practice lap for Friday’s 6-lap Senior where he went out on his own Superstock bike fitted with a tuned engine and the swingarm and quick release mechanism from the MSS Colchester Kawasaki machine, immediately declaring he was a lot happier with the set up of the machine, particularly the handling. With a few more minor tweaks in preparation for the Blue Riband event, Ryan’s attentions then turned towards the 4-lap Supersport race, which got underway at 2.45pm. Apart from blustery winds over the Mountain conditions were ideal and Ryan started strongly, going through Glen Helen, 9 miles into the lap, in fifth place. However, it was nip and tuck all the way with very little between all of the riders and, after a lap of 124.553mph, Ryan found himself back in ninth place, only 3 seconds adrift of fourth placed Keith Amor! He maintained station on the second lap and it was still close although the battle was now fof fifth with the front four riders beginning to edge away. Pushed back briefly to tenth on the third lap, a strong final lap of 123.763mph saw Ryan get back up to ninth to make it four top ten finishes from four starts and he’ll now be hoping to maintain that record in the final race of the week. Speaking later, Ryan commented: “I had a better race than what I’d had on monday and I simply rode as hard as I could all race. It started off well when I saw ‘P5’ on my pitboard but on the next I saw ‘P9’ and although it was incredibly close that’s where I hovered for the rest of the race. I could catch up a few of the riders in front of me and when the bike was fully wound up it was as good as anything else out there, it just took us a wee bit extra time to get there!” “It was a clean race for me with no moments but a crash in front of me unsettled me quite a lot and I was glad to get to the end. It’s a bit frustrating as I showed in the Superstock race, where I was bang on the pace, what I can do when it’s a lot level a playing field but although it’s not where I wanted to be, it’s another top ten finish. I’m really looking forward to the Senior now as the changes we’ve made have made me a lot more competitive and I’m a lot happier with the set up we’ve now got. I passed Hutchy along the Sulby Straight and hung on to John (McGuinness) for quite a while and whilst I’m not necessarily saying that’s what I’ll be doing in the race, I’m feeling a lot more confident and am hopeful of a strong showing to end the week on a good note.” The 6-lap Senior race takes place at 12.30pm on Friday.