DESPITE what he described as a wooden first lap, Bradford's Dean Harrison (Silicone Engineering Kawasaki) has notched his fourth Isle of Man Classic TT victory.

He dominated the final race of the meeting – the RST Superbike Classic TT – to win by over a minute.

However, after the race he revealed that it had taken him a while to get going.

Harrison said: "I felt like I had a bad start. I didn't feel 100 per cent on the opening lap – I felt a bit wooden.

"I did feel that if I needed to go faster I could do, but it's an old bike so I wanted to bring it home for the lads."

Harrison added: "The conditions were surprisingly good – the odd damp patches but because there was cloud cover there was no sunlight, which can cause problems.

"Thanks to all the crowd, and the marshals for making it such a great event and atmosphere."

Greenall Racing's Horst Saiger carried the No 1 plate and was first away, followed by Harrison, who had only qualified for the race as third fastest.

Harrison established a lead of just over two seconds over Gary Johnson (Team York Suzuki) by the first timing point at Glen Helen, with Michael Rutter (Team Winfield Yamaha) third a further two seconds back.

Harrison's opening lap of 125.471mph gave him a lead of over 19 seconds from Rutter (123.309mph), with Johnson (122.980mph) in third, almost three seconds behind Rutter.

Conor Cummins, riding the two-stroke Yamaha YZR500, had moved into fourth, less than half a second behind Johnson, with his opening lap of 122.929mph, with Saiger (122.247mph) completing the top five.

Cummins edged ahead of Johnson at Glen Helen on the second lap and, with Rutter retiring at Ballacrye, Cummins moved into second at Ramsey, over 30 seconds behind Harrison, with Johnson third, one and a half seconds down on the Manx rider.

Coming into the pits at the end of the second lap, Harrison's 126.041 gave him a lead of 37 seconds from Cummins but with Cummins (1:15.912) and Johnson (1:14.834) both experiencing lengthy pit stops – and Johnson's subsequent retirement at Quarterbridge – Saiger moved into second at Glen Helen on the third lap.

Harrison's extended his lead over Saiger to almost a minute with a third lap of 118.013, with Cummins over ten seconds behind Saiger, and the Bradfordian duly secured the race win with a last lap of 124.238mph from Saiger (123.560mph), with Cummins clinching the final podium place with his last lap of 123.832mph - almost ten seconds behind Saiger.

In practice, race favourite Harrison was beset by problems and twice pulled in at the return lane after failing to get his bike going.

Harrison was also fourth in the Dunlop Lightweight Classic TT on his Laylaw Racing Yamaha behind Lee Johnston (Honda/Padgetts Motorcycles.com), Adam McLean (Yamaha/Birch Racing) and Laylaw team-mate Ian Lougher, who was 80 seconds ahead.