Dean Harrison brought his tally of wins to three on the second evening of racing at this week’s Isle of Man Steam Packet-sponsored Southern 100 on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old Yorkshireman scored a repeat success on his RC Express 1000cc Kawasaki in the Ellan Vannin Fuels Senior race, but only after seeing off a spirited challenge from local charger Dan Kneen.
The latter man had made a swift getaway on his Cookstown BE Racing Suzuki and led by 2.3 seconds at the end of the first lap of the 4.25-mile Billown Course.
Harrison got past on lap two, but Kneen refused to give in and held on gallantly for the first half of the race. He then staved off a late challenge from multiple TT winner Michael Dunlop in the closing stages to claim a well-earned second place.
Harrison won by 6.2 seconds from Kneen, aided by an event lap record of 113.473mph on the fourth circuit. Kneen, in turn, was 0.05 of a second ahead of Dunlop’s BMW in an extremely close finish.
Dan’s brother Ryan was eighth.
Harrison chalked up his third win of the meeting in the restarted Radcliffe Butchers 600cc race at the end of the evening.
The race was initially red-flagged following a multiple-bike incident at Ballakeighan on the opening lap in which local ace Conor Cummins suffered a broken forearm.
When the race was eventually restarted, Dean Harrison led from start to finish on his Yamaha R6, winning by 3.2s from Guy Martin who had pulled out of the earlier 1000cc race at the end of the first lap.
Dan Kneen had another good ride for third, well clear of Russ Mountford in fourth and his brother Ryan Kneen in fifth. Paul Smyth of Douglas was 15th.
Ivan Lintin of Bardney, Lincs, registered his first Southern 100 win when he led the Mike Kerruish Plumbing 650/250 race from flag to flag.
Twice breaking the class lap record on his Tigcraft Kawasaki, he ultimately won by more than nine seconds from Dean Harrison who had a race-long scrap with James Cowton for the runner-up spot. Harrison’s brother, Adrian, was fourth in front of Ulsterman Davy Morgan and the local pairing of Dean Osborne and John Barton.
This race had also been restarted following another four-bike incident involving Dave Taylor, Marie Hodgson, Chris Mitchell and Niklas Pfeiffer at Ballakeighan on the opening lap. None were seriously injured in this accident.
Father and son, Ian and Carl Bell of Bedlington, won the Ace Hire and Sales Sidecar race on Wednesday evening.
The early leaders were John Holden and Andy Winkle, but they retired at Ballabeg on lap three having already relinquished the lead to the Bells.
Making his return to the course after an absence of 11 years, Dave Molyneux and regular Jurby passenger Benjamin Binns moved up to second place with the departure of the early leaders but were again slowed by intermittent electrical issues on the Kawasaki that plagued much of Moly’s TT fortnight.
When the problem briefly cleared in the closing stages, Molyneux and Binns set the fastest lap of the race on the final circuit to close within seven tenths of a second of the Bells at the line.
Conrad Harrison and local passenger Jason Crowe finished third after edging free of a great scrap with Dean Lindley/Dean Kilkenny and Wayne Lockey/Mark Sayers.
Full round-up from Southern 100 championship day in Tuesday’s edition of the Isle of Man Examiner.