DUCATI DEBUT FOR DEAN

Three-time Isle of Man TT winner Dean Harrison will return to the Mountain Course this month, competing in the RST Classic Superbike Race at the 100th Anniversary edition of the Manx Grand Prix.

Harrison will line up on Key Racing’s Ducati 916 as he contests the Classic Superbike Race for the first time since 2018, whilst it will also be his first taste of riding the Italian V-twin machine around the 37.73-mile circuit.

The Bradford rider has great pedigree in the class, bouncing from a disappointing 2016 to win both the 2017 and 2018 races, lapping at a mightily impressive 127.212mph in the former when he defeated Bruce Anstey by 16 seconds.

Victory the following year was even more comprehensive when, riding the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki once more, he came home more than a minute clear of Horst Saiger.

He’ll now be aiming to make it a hat-trick of wins with the exotic Ducati; the machine made famous by Carl Fogarty when he won the 1994 World Superbike Championship in its maiden year. The machine is a recent addition to the Classic Superbike class and is a throwback to the mid 1990’s when Iain Duffus and Robert Holden both enjoyed strong showings at the TT – Duffus finishing second in the 1995 Senior Race.

Both he and Holden lapped at more than 120mph that year, a mark Harrison should comfortably beat and although his track time on the machine has been limited, he took a hat-trick of wins and set a new class lap record at last month’s Cock o’ the North races at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough.

Ducati specialists Key Racing will also field a second machine for Andrea Majola, the Italian having finished 21st twelve months ago when riding a similar machine.