Isle of Man TT 2026: Dean Harrison Wins Superbike Race 1
Dean Harrison led from the first corner to the last and never looked like losing it. We watched the whole thing unfold from Hillberry, and the bikes that screamed through on lap one were already telling the story.
The 2026 TT was supposed to open on Saturday with the Superstock race. The weather had other ideas, scrubbing the lot and leaving the six-lap Superbike race to do the honours as Sunday’s curtain-raiser instead. Conditions were good for racing, and 226 miles of Mountain Course later, Harrison had his hands on the win.
From where we were sitting at Hillberry, you get a proper read on a rider’s commitment. It’s quick, it’s downhill, and the good ones carry frightening corner speed through the right-hander before the run to Cronk-ny-Mona. Harrison looked planted every single lap. No drama, no correction, just a man and a Honda Fireblade getting on with it.
Harrison’s masterclass
He took the lead into Glen Helen on the opening lap and that was effectively that. By the time the second round of pit stops came around, his advantage had ballooned to around 33 seconds. That’s not a lead. That’s a different postcode.
With a cushion like that, Harrison rolled the pace off over the closing laps, giving up the best part of ten seconds on the final tour because he simply didn’t need them. He still crossed the line 15.580 seconds clear. It’s his sixth TT win, and the first in the Superbike class. About time, plenty would say.
The real fight was for second
While Harrison disappeared up the road, Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop spent most of the race trading blows for the runner-up spot. Hickman’s having to manage nerve damage from his crash last year, which makes the scrap all the more impressive. The pair were rarely more than a second or two apart on corrected time.
It came down to the pit stops at the end of lap four. Dunlop spent a few seconds longer in his box, and Hickman used that to edge clear over the final two laps on the Monster Energy BMW. Hicky took second, with Dunlop third on corrected time. Notably, Dunlop wasn’t happy with his Honda Superbike all race and admitted afterwards he hadn’t expected a podium at all.
Behind the podium
Josh Brookes brought the DAO Racing Honda home in fourth, almost a minute back from the podium battle. He’d been wheel-to-wheel with John McGuinness early on before pulling clear in the second half. McGuinness, setting off at number one on the road and marking 30 years since his TT debut, took a thoroughly respectable fifth at 54 years of age. The man does not stop.
Ian Hutchinson rounded out the top six on the Team RST BMW, ahead of Jamie Coward, Nathan Harrison, Mike Browne and Paul Jordan. There were Manx interests too: Conor Cummins took eleventh, while Michael Evans got onto the grid at all only thanks to his team thrashing to repair the Dafabet Honda after a qualifying crash at Greeba Castle.
Top 10 result
- Dean Harrison – Honda Racing UK – WIN
- Peter Hickman – Monster Energy BMW Motorrad – +15.580s
- Michael Dunlop – MD Racing/Hawk Racing – 3rd on corrected time
- Josh Brookes – DAO Racing
- John McGuinness – Honda Racing UK
- Ian Hutchinson – Team RST
- Jamie Coward – Rapid Honda by Drivelife
- Nathan Harrison – H&H Motorcycles
- Mike Browne – Russell Racing
- Paul Jordan – Jackson Racing by Prosper2
A few didn’t see the finish. Davo Johnson and Dominic Herbertson were early mechanical retirements, and Matt Stevenson came off at Waterworks. The good news is he was reported okay at race control.
One race down, a full week of the world’s greatest road race still to come. If race one is anything to go by, Harrison’s arrived in the kind of form that wins TTs. The rest of them have got some catching up to do.
Want to be trackside for the next one? Plan your TT week, find paddock dates, viewing spots and every other event worth riding to on the Lid Life Events Finder.
