BRADFORD'S Dean Harrison came agonisingly close to his first Senior TT triumph, only for Peter Hickman to beat him by two seconds.

Having claimed victory in the Supersport race on Wednesday, Harrison looked on course to claim the biggest prize of the week.

The 29-year-old lead for 33 of the 36 sectors but Hickman stormed snatched the title thanks to a sensational first lap of the Mountain Course at over 135mph on his final circuit.

The Lincolnshire rider set a new absolute course record of 135.452mph to edge Harrison into second place.

The Bradford speedster said: "It's just the way the cards fall and I can't be disappointed with a win, and four podium finishes."

Harrison was also inside the previous best lap benchmark, with Manxman Conor Cummins third.

The Yorkshireman's lead going onto the last lap was just 1.9 seconds but the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki pilot finished runner-up after an enthralling final lap.

Hickman had beaten Harrison's six-day-old course lap record on his fourth circuit at 134.456 but smashed that in his last-gasp charge to steal victory, Harrison's 134.918 remarkably proving not enough.

But Hickman was full of praise for his Bradford rival. He said: "What a tough race that was – massive credit to Dean, he was absolutely on it and led for virtually the whole race.

"There was never much in it and I kept losing ground in the first couple of sectors, but I kept gaining on the Mountain.

"The Smith's BMW worked perfectly, sweet as a nut. What an awesome end to an up and down couple of weeks."