The 30-year-old from Lincolnshire meant business today when he set off on the four-lap race after rain ceased play on the Island yesterday. Gary was on a mission on lap one and the timing board had to wait for him to come through Glen Helen with his start number being 11, it was a waiting game the entire race. He was soon through and already three seconds up on his nearest rival 16 times TT winner John McGuinness.
This lead kept on extending and by the end of lap two he had a 15-second advantage from McGuinness, Cameron Donald in third and Guy Martin in fourth and Gary was still looking very strong. The East Coast Racing team completed the second fastest pit stop at the end of lap two and therefore Gary lost no time and was looking fast and very comfortable. He was second fastest through the speed traps and was still looking to take a convincing win, he kept up the extremely fast pace throughout the race. The gap only dropping slightly as he crossed the chequered flag, he had a ten second advantage at the end of the race from John McGuinness in second and Guy Martin gaining third.
Cameron Donald made a mad charge on lap three and was managing to take time off Gary and cutting the lead down, he went out of the race on lap four with a mechanical problem. Gary picked up pit boards around the course telling him the lead had decreased to around nine seconds and the Lincolnshire man upped his game again to ensure he took a solid win.
Speaking with Gary straight after the race he said "I'm just over the moon, winning my first ever TT is something very special and it's an amazing feeling. It's something I've been looking forward to achieving for a long time. The support that you get is unreal I saw some of my mates up on the Mountain including David Knight and they were all cheering me on.
I didn't want to mess about on the first lap and just wanted to get my head down and find a comfortable pace I knew I was fast but the bike just felt great. I didn't feel out of shape at all and just was riding it to how it felt comfortable. I was getting pit boards around the track and it was up to +14 at one point then it came down to +9 so I knew I had to pull the pin a little bit and not back off too much.
The fans were just brilliant all waving their programmes and cheering me on all the way round the last lap it's just an incredible feeling, awesome, it's the best feeling in the world I'm really pleased. I'd just like to thank Phil and all the East Coast Racing boys, Spider and James and the support also from Mick Grant this week, thanks everyone and sorry if I've missed anyone out!! I just hope I can get a good result in the Senior and finish the week on a real high."
For more information on Akrapovic and the hundreds of other performance parts we have to add some 'Bionics to your bike' please visit www.performanceparts-ltd.com
No comments:
Post a Comment