Steve Plater saved his best for last as he powered the HM Plant Honda to victory in a record breaking Senior TT at the Isle of Man TT Festival today. The race was run over six laps of the 37.73-mile course and Plater took the win, the race record and the Joey Dunlop Trophy in just his third year of racing at the infamous public roads course. The world famous race was delayed by half an hour because of some light rain around the course but it soon dried out and the feature race of the week was started by Murray Walker OBE in bright sunshine and perfect conditions. When the riders arrived at the first check point of Glen Helen Plater slotted straight into second place behind his HM Plant Honda teammate John McGuinness and the pair steadily pulled clear of the rest of the field. But events took a dramatic change on lap four when McGuinness retired at Crookshanks with a broken chain. That left Plater with a clear lead over Manxman Conor Cummins and although Cummins did pull back a couple of seconds on the penultimate lap, Plater upped the anti and made sure of the win, extending his advantage to 19.54 seconds at the chequered flag. As well as the race win, Plater posted his fastest lap of the two week festival with a flying lap of 130.490mph, bettering the record from last year set by McGuinness although before he retired from the race McGuinness recorded a new lap record of 1m 31.578s. Steve also picked up the inaugural Joey Dunlop Trophy for the rider with the best overall results of the week with 84 points. An emotional Steve Plater said: “It will perhaps sink in later tonight just exactly what I have achieved; its stuff dreams are made of. It’s unfortunate that John went out but that’s what happens in racing. He would have been there at the end for sure, but I was just trying my hardest to do a really good out lap as Neil Tuxworth has been whinging and whining at me all week for being an old lady on the first lap! That’s what I was concentrating on and then just seeing how the result went from there. “I was watching my pit boards as I knew Connor was only about 10 seconds away from me, my dad was doing the boards at Ramsey so he will be desperate to get back now, bless him. It seemed like 40 miles from the Bungalow down to the finish on that last lap, it was endless. “I won the Junior TT last year because the bike that actually took the chequered flag first was illegal and therefore disqualified, which was unfortunate for Bruce Anstey as he was a very strong rider but I did take over five seconds out of him on the last lap so I am happy with that win and that’s that. “This achievement today will finally sink in next week as I have to turn my attention back to short circuits and the British Supersport championship. I just need a bit of Plater time on my own to take it all in. But I said to the guys at HM Plant Honda, as soon as the chequered flag falls here I will be thinking about winning at Snetterton next Sunday.” This fantastic win brings Plater’s tally of results to five this week, a win in the Senior, a second place in the Superbike and fourth in the Superstock and the two Supersport races a remarkable achievement for the Woodhall Spa ace in only his third year of competing at the TT. More, from a press release issused by Keith Amor’s publicist: Amor ends 2009 TT with Senior race retirement Falkirk’s Keith Amor ended the 2009 Isle of Man TT Races with a fourth lap retirement during the Senior race. The Wilson Craig Honda rider was lying in a very strong sixth place when he came in to his second pit stop but the rear spindle of the machine refused to come out as the team went to change the rear tyre and he had no option other than to retire. The race was delayed 30 minutes due to slight rain in the Alpine Cottage area but when it finally got underway, Keith completed the opening lap in eighth place. He upped the pace on the second lap and moved up the leaderboard to seventh but improved upon that on the fourth with a speed of 128.244mph. Keith had high hopes of climbing even higher in the closing stages of the race but when the team went to make the necessary rear wheel change at the pit stop, the spindle stuck and no matter what they did it simply wouldn’t budge. So, Keith’s TT ended on a retirement. Nevertheless, with two podiums and a new personal best lap of 128.958mph, it was an excellent week for Keith and the whole Wilson Craig team. Speaking later Keith said: “We changed a few settings on the bike but didn’t get the chance to test it and it was a bit of a handful to be honest. The new Dunlop tyres worked really well and I was as fast as anyone over the Mountain but I was struggling to hold on to the bike along the bottom part of the circuit. It was hard work but I managed to get up in to the top six until we had the problem at the pit stop.” “The boys have worked so hard for the entire fortnight and I’m as disappointed for them as I am me. We’ve had no major problems with the bike and it’s only a few small things that have caused the DNF’s, certainly nothing no one could have prevented, just things that only crop up at the TT. Overall, I’ve made another step forward at the TT and with two podiums this week I’ve got to be happy. I just want to thank everyone connected with the team for all their efforts and commitment and that’s what’s helped us get the results.” More, from a press release issued by Ian Hutchinson: Ian Hutchinson started Tuesday morning eager and determined, ready for the two great races that lay ahead of him – the TT Supersport and the TT Superstock. Both races had the same result – Ian Hutchinson first, Guy Martin second and Keith Amor third. Records were continually smashed on both speed and lap times as all riders displayed the most competitive road racing show-of-talent seen for a long time. Ian lapped the final Superstock with a speed of 129.74. Following the historical day Ian commented, “The 600 race was the hardest race ever! There were three of us together on the road; now throw in the back markers and you get the picture that it was serious short circuit racing.” “Clive Padgett pulls out all the stops with his bikes. He is always thinking of ways to improve things and has put so much confidence into me. They really are a fantastic team.” “As for the Superstock race, I was a little slow to start. There was a real contention coming in to the pits. There were some problems with the filler cap and this caused me to lose a bit of time, but in the end this just put more fire in my belly and I really got my head down.” Ian was almost speechless after the day’s racing, unlike his parents, who were both on the Island to support Ian as usual. The Clive Padgett Team and supporting sponsors could not have asked for more. The fantastic display by Hutchy has made both his sponsors and supporters proud. Hutchy now has his sites set on the Senior Superbike race with high ambitions to win the TT 2009 treble for his 4th TT win overall. For more information, exclusive photos and Hutchy’s Blog – check out HutchyRacing.com. More, from a press release issued by Uel Duncan Racing: Johnson ends 2009 TT with superb debut podium Uel Duncan Racing’s Gary Johnson ended his 2009 TT campaign with a superb debut podium when he took third place in Friday’s Senior TT. The race also saw the 28-year old post his personal best lap of the Mountain Course at 129.539mph whilst the result ensured he’d finished all five solo races inside the top ten, one of only two riders to acheive such a feat. A 30-minute delay to proceedings meant the race got underway at 1.30pm although conditions were ideal by that time and an opening lap of 128.837mph saw Gary slot into seventh. Although he had been overhauled on the road by the flying John McGuinness, who went on to set a new outright lap record in excess of 131mph, Gary was riding well and this could be seen in his second lap of 129.539mph that saw him move up to fifth, just over a second adrift of fourth place. Positions remained the same until a dramatic period that saw race leader McGuinness and third placed Guy Martin retire and fourth placed Ian Hutchinson crash out, fortunately without injury. When the dust settled, Gary was up to third, despite obtaining a ten-second penalty for a stop-box infringement when he came in to the pits, and a final lap of 128.978mph saw him bring the Robinson Concrete Honda home for a fantastic third place, the first TT podium for the team since Cameron Donald finished second in the same race two years ago. Talking later, a delighted Gary said: “It feels absolutely brilliant to get a podium finish, especially in the Senior, and the week couldn’t have ended any better. I’ve struggled with the big bike throughout the fortnight and it was all over the place on the first lap but all the boys at Uel Duncan Racing, Honda and Dunlop pulled out all the stops for today’s race and we got the result we deserved. I had a bit of luck with a couple of retirements but the TT is as much about lasting the distance as it is about the race and you have to be in it at the end. I made a bit of an idiot of myself at the pit stop when I didn’t get stopped in time but I managed to lap at close to 129.6mph and for a privateer team like ours to come 3rd is a terrific result. It’s only my third year at the TT and to get on to the podium is what I’ve always wanted and I’m so happy for the team. The boys have worked so hard all week and it’s testament to their efforts that we’ve finished inside the top ten in every race. It’s been a tough TT but it’s been an enjoyable TT and we can now look forward to the rest of the year in a good frame of mind.”