MONSTER ENERGY SUPERSPORT TT RACE PREVIEW
With race week now up and running at the Isle of Man TT Races, it’s the turn of the smaller capacity bikes with the four-lap Monster Energy Supersport Race to take to the 37 and ¾-mile Mountain Course.
Undefeated since 2022, it’s hard to see past Michael Dunlop enjoying more Supersport success, the record 33-time winner having won all eight of the races to take place over the last four years. And with 15 Supersport victories in total, it’s little wonder the Northern Ireland rider lines up as favourite.
That tag was reaffirmed during qualifying week when the 37-year old lapped at 129.557mph on the MD Racing/Scars Racing Ducati, which was less than seven seconds outside his own class lap record of 130.403mph set three years ago.
Dunlop set the benchmark in qualifying.
It was also a more than healthy 18.5s quicker than second placed rider Peter Hickman, the Swan Racing Triumph by PHR Performance rider lapping at 127.301mph during the final qualifying session.
Hickman’s looked comfortable on the Triumph and is the only rider other than Dunlop to lap at more than 130mph on a Supersport machine so knows there’s more in the tank come race day.
The same applies to Dean Harrison, the Honda Racing rider third quickest in qualifying with a speed of 127.242mph, only half a second slower than Hickman. A Supersport TT race winner in 2018, Harrison races the CBR600RR week in, week out in the British Supersport Championship and recently took his maiden podium at Donington Park so, fresh from his Superbike victory, he’ll be aiming to maintain his winning run on the island.
Once again, the ‘big three’ look to have the edge over the rest of the field but a definite contender for the rostrum is Josh Brookes. The Australian is a former race winner in the World Supersport Championship and lapped at a more than competitive 126.848mph on the Uggly & Co. Racing Suzuki during qualifying, his quickest ever Supersport lap around the Mountain Course.
Brookes recorded his fastest ever Supersport lap during qualifying
His threat is considerable, to say the least, with the next generation Supersport machines very much in the ascendancy. Indeed, only Harrison and Jamie Coward, seventh quickest in qualifying on the Rapid Honda with DriveLife machine, were inside the qualifying top ten on traditional 600cc machines.
Aside from Dunlop, there’s strength in depth for Ducati with Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2) and Ian Hutchinson (Burrows Engineering/RK Racing) both featuring inside the top ten in qualifying, Jordan fifth quickest at 125.897mph.
He finished fourth in race two twelve months ago so will be aiming for at least the same this time around whilst other runners on the Ducati Panigale V2 include Rob Hodson (SMT Racing), Erno Kostamo (Zerowaste Motorsport), the Finn having impressed with a lap of 122.077mph in qualifying, and local rider Jamie Cringle (LPA Racing).
There’s a strong representation across a diverse mix of manufacturers in the field.
Triumph and Suzuki also have strong representation with Dominic Herbertson sixth quickest during qualifying on the KTS Macadam Triumph Factory Racing machine. He lapped at 125.857mph last Wednesday, just outside his quickest ever lap in the class, and the Supersport race will be, arguably, the one he’s targeted for his best results at TT2026.
Michael Evans, Barry Furber, Julian Trummer, Pierre Yves Bian and Marcus Simpson are also Triumph-mounted with Conor Cummins, Joe Yeardsley and Shaun Anderson set to challenge Brookes as the best Suzuki performer.
Cummins qualified tenth quickest on the North Lincs Component machine with fellow Manxman Yeardsley (SpinArena.net) only ten seconds slower. It’s a class the former Senior Manx Grand Prix winner goes well having finished 12th two years ago so a top ten finish cannot be ruled out.
The Honda CBR600RR and Yamaha YZF-R6 are still more than competitive in the right hands with Mike Browne and Nathan Harrison definitely falling into that category, Browne riding the Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing Yamaha and Harrison once more on the H&H Motorcycles Honda. Browne already has four top ten Supersport finishes and will again be pushing for the top six.
Mitch Rees (Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles) and Joey Thompson (TH Racing) are also Honda mounted, both performing well during qualifying, with Michael Sweeney once again campaigning the EM Building-sponsored Yamaha.
And as per the Superbike class, David Johnson flies the flag for Kawasaki riding this time for CD Racing.
