DEAN HARRISON

Every so often, a rider emerges from nowhere to establish themselves as a hot prospect before going on to become an International race winner and Dean Harrison most definitely fits into that category.

It was in 2010 when he burst onto the scene with numerous wins in the Support classes on the Irish roads but the one result that really stood out was when he defeated Ryan Farquhar in a Supertwins race at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough. That was unheard of at the time, and he’s never looked back with the Bradford rider now seen as, arguably, one of the best four road racers currently competing on the roads.

After a solid TT debut in 2011, when he lapped at more than 121mph on his own R1 Yamaha, the father and son combination of Roy and Ben Constable formed a race team with Harrison as the sole rider and from 2012-2014, they gave Harrison everything he needed. Success soon came with 2014 seeing them claim a dream win in the Lightweight TT race and take a brilliant second to Michael Dunlop in the Superstock race.

RC Express Racing played a pivotal and integral part in Harrison’s career and although a move to Mar-Train Yamaha in 2015 didn’t pay dividends, a switch to Silicone Engineering Kawasaki in 2016 did and he remained there for the next eight years albeit under the guise of DAO Racing from 2022 onwards. Again, it was a team solely built around Harrison, an environment he clearly thrived in with the ten TT races of 2018 and 2019 seeing him win two and stand on the podium in eight of them.

That trend continued in 2022 when, although unable to add to his three wins, he took three more second place finishes with third and fourth taken in his other two races. He improved upon that in 2023 with no less than five third place finishes as well as second in the Senior. Those third-place finishes led to frustration, and he made a big move to Honda Racing for the 2024 season where another win eluded him, but four more podiums were taken.

Competing in the British Superbike Championship has also played its part in Harrison’s prowess around the Mountain Course. Racing week in, week out against the country’s leading short circuit riders has made Harrison a better, more polished rider and, in turn, a better road racer.

He continues to make steps forward but if there’s one area where he still needs to improve at the TT, it’s the Mountain section. This became apparent during the epic Senior TT in 2018, which he lost to Peter Hickman by just 2.061s, and although he’s made progress in this area since, further progress is required if he’s to turn the multitude of seconds and thirds into more race wins.

DATA TABLE

NOTHING BUT DEAN HARRISON AT THE TT