Peter Hickman took a surprise win in the Isle of Man Supertwin race as rider after rider retired from the leaders on track, including favourite Michael Dunlop, who had won the first race in the class.
The number ten picked up his second win of the day and third of the meet ( and twelfth in total) after Mike Browne had retired from the race, having inherited the lead himself after Michael Dunlop was sensationally forced to pull out of the race.
Second went to French rider rostrum débutante Pierre Yves Bian, who counts Hickman as his manager, but was almost 48 seconds slower, with the Burton based rider finishing first on track after making up nine places.
His BSB teammate, Josh Brookes, a late stand in to fill in for Gary Johnson, claimed his first podium and almost caught Bian on track for third place.
| 2023 ISLE OF MAN TT : SUPERTWIN (Race 2) | | POS | RIDER | BIKE/TEAM | DIFFERENCE | RACE TIME | | 1 | Peter Hickman | Yamaha R7 PHR Performance | | 56.55.113 | | 2 | Pierre Yves Bian | Paton S1-R VAS Engine/Laser Scanning | 47.784 | 57.42.897 | | 3 | Joshua Brookes | Kawasaki ER-6f Dafabet Racing | 2.001 | 57.44.899 | | 4 | Stefano Bonetti | Paton - T-Bike S1-R Team ILR, Frog Vehicle Developments | 27.398 | 58.12.298 | | 5 | Rob Hodson | Kawasaki Z650 SMT/KH Commercial | 7.576 | 58.19.874 | | 6 | Baz Furber | Yamaha MT-07 DC Auto Repairs Newtown Ltd | 16:48.0 | 58.55.719 | | 7 | Michael Evans | Aprilia RS 660 Rea Racing Dyno Centre/M.E Racing | 16.932 | 59.12.651 | | 8 | Francesco Curinga | Paton S1-R Team ILR/Frog Vehicle Developments | 7.67 | 59.20.322 | | 9 | Michal Dokoupil | Aprilia RS 660 Rocknet | 15.384 | 59.35.707 | | 10 | Michael Russell | Aprilia RS 660 Fraser Evans Tyre Recycling | 25 | 1.00.01.194 | | 11 | Martin Morris | Aprilia RS 660 Obsession Engineering,Brewer Racing | 32.019 | 1.00.33.213 | | 12 | Jonathan Goetschy | Aprilia RS 660 Goetschy Racing | 4.123 | 1.00.37.336 | | 13 | Paul Cassidy | Kawasaki Z650 Island Fuels Ltd. | 7.261 | 1.00.44.598 | | 14 | Paul Potchy Williams | Kawasaki Z650 Golden Site Solutions Ltd | 0.07 | 1.00.44.668 | | 15 | Gareth Arnold | Aprilia RS 660 No sponsor | 1.286 | 1.00.45.955 | | 16 | Miroslav Sloboda | Kawasaki ER-6f Laki RT53 | 50.963 | 1.01.36.918 | | 17 | Tom Weeden | Kawasaki ER-6f Club77 / Plum Properties | 28.608 | 1.02.05.526 | | 18 | Pete Murray | Kawasaki T-Bike Ninja 650 Arizona Speed Engineering | 8.877 | 1.02.14.403 | | 19 | David Brook | Aprilia RS 660 Brook Motorsport | 9.725 | 1.02.24.129 | | 20 | Masayuki Yamanaka | Kawasaki ER-6f Team ILR/Frog Vehicle Developments | 9.636 | 1.02.33.765 | | 21 | Andy Hornby | Paton S1-R Black Eagle Racing/Legacy Moto/Hel | 01.38.975 | 1.04.12.740 | | 22 | Jack Petrie | Kawasaki ER-6f AM Tiling | 01.15.812 | 1.05.28.533 | | 23 | Vinny Brennan | Kawasaki Z650 Bartcon Racing | 07.32.078 | 1.13.00.632 | | 24 | Mike Browne | Paton S1-R Burrows Engineering / RK racing | | DNF | | 25 | Dominic Herbertson | Kawasaki Z650 John M Paterson Ltd/CC Engineering | | DNF | | 26 | Xavier Denis | Kawasaki Z650 performanX Racing Team | | DNF | | 27 | Chris Moore | Kawasaki Z650 Silverstar Services / iHeat Racing | | DNF | | 28 | Jamie Cringle | Kawasaki ER-6f AGR Motorsports | | DNF | | 29 | Michael Rutter | Yamaha R7 Bathams Ales | | DNF | | 30 | Kevin Barsby | Kawasaki ER-6f Cowton Racing / Sally Nunn | | DNF | | 31 | David Madsen-Mygdal | Kawasaki Z650 RJP Racing/Team Gimbert Racing | | DNF | | 32 | Paul Jordan | Kawasaki ER-6f PreZ Racing by Prosper² | | DNF | | 33 | Michael Dunlop | Paton S1-R MD Racing | | DNF | | 34 | Jamie Coward | Kawasaki z-650 KTS Racing powered by Steadplan | | DNF | | 35 | Julian Trummer | Yamaha R7 Heat tech Racing | | DNS | | 36 | Craig Szczypek | Suzuki SV650 Oxman Carpentry Pure Beauty By Tate 1 | | DNS | | 37 | Brian McCormack | Aprilia RS 660 Globalrobots | | DNS | | 38 | James Chawke | Kawasaki Z650 Carl Robert's / Emmjess Racing | | DNS |
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None of the first Supertwin race podium finishers made it back to the rostrum, with not only Dunlop and Browne out - his bike cut out in scary fashion after his clutch failed. Jamie Coward also suffered an early exit with the bikes asked to complete two races at the meet for the first time in the class.
It was a truly international affair at the front of the race with Stefano Bonetti oicking up fouth on his Paton. Rob Hodson completed the top five.
Elsewhere there was cheer for Michael Russell, who saw his hopes of finishing all the ten races at the TT come to an end on Wednesday with two DNF’s. This time he was back with a top ten finish.
The final rider to cross the line was a determined Vinny Brennan, who pushed his Bartcon Racing Kawasaki on foot all the way to the chequered flag, cheered all the way by the trackside fans.
The Supertwin race closed the day 5 action. It got off to a sombre but celebratory start with Angel Torras Martinez on flag duty to commemorate his late brother, Raul Torras Martinez.
