Donald doubles, but McGuinness still the King!
It was a good year for the antipodeans, too, with Aussie, Cameron Donald, and New Zealander, Bruce Anstey, recording wins in Superbike, Superstock and Supersport TT. Donald was also looking good for a win in the Senior TT, but an oil leak on the last lap forced him to coast home in second place behind 14-time TT winner, John McGuinness.
Near-perfect weather for the races helped all riders record some impressive times, too.
Along with Anstey and Donald (both riding for the 'Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing' team), the favoured front runners in the Superbike TT - the first major race of the event - were McGuinness and Guy Martin. However, both the Brits suffered mechanical failures, allowing Donald to finish the six laps unchallenged, Anstey finishing second ahead of Adrian Archibald on the AMA Racing Suzuki GSX-R 1000. Speaking soon after his debut win, Donald still sounded incredulous at the result.
"It is going to take a little while to sink in. The win just hasn't quite sunk in yet, it is an amazing feeling."
Dainese Superbike race
1. C. Donald Suzuki 01 47 05.89
2. B. Anstey Suzuki 01 46 16.66
3. A. Archibald Suzuki 01 48 37.97
4. G. Johnson Honda 01 49 12.67
5. I. Lougher Yamaha 01 49 31.38
Two days later, Donald did it again, with a strong performance in the Scottish Life International Superstock race.
This time around, Donald didn't have it so easy, though. McGuinness and Martin's bikes held together throughout the four lap race, the two Brit stars pushing the Aussie all the way.
McGuinness lead the race early on lap one, and only finished 15 seconds behind.
Anstey withdrew with illness partway through the race, a bitter disappoint for the Kiwi who has been dominant in Superstock for the past few years.
"I was so disappointed this morning," Anstey commented later.
"I was really struggling to hang onto the Superstock and thought it would just be safest to pull in."
After the race, Donald acknowledged the strength of competition in this race compared to his previous victory.
"This one, everyone was in. The guys had a bit of bad luck on Saturday, and I have got so much respect for John and Guy, this is just brilliant."
Low cloud meant the race record wasn't in doubt, but Donald's sub 1m 12s race was impressive nonetheless.
Scottish Life International Superstock race
1. C. Donald Suzuki 01 11 59.69
2. J. McGuinness Honda 01 12 14.76
3. G. Martin Honda 01 12 17.71
4. R. Farquhar Kawasaki 01 12 34.98
5. C. Cummins Yamaha 01 12 34.98
What looked to be a comfortable 20+ second victory for Bruce Anstey in the first of two Relentless Energy Drink Supersport TTs was overturned three hours later when the Kiwi was disqualified for a breach of the homologation rules.
In post-race scrutineering, Anstey's exhaust cam measurement was found to be outside of what was legal for homologation, even though scrutineers agreed that it wasn't a deliberate attempt by the Relentless Suzuki/TAS Racing team to gain an advantage, and was most likely down to human error in the engine build.
TAS Racing were quick to point out the offending part wasn't a Suzuki factory component, but an aftermarket item that was outside the tolerance levels set by the TT organisers. Nevertheless, the breach was enforces and Anstey's race result was excluded, the win going to Steve Plater in only his second year at the TT, just edging out McGuinness, with Scots rider, Keith Amor a further 8 seconds back.
Relentless Supersport race one
1. S. Plater Yamaha 01 14 01.07
2. J. McGuinness Honda 01 14 04.06
3. K. Amor Honda 01 14 12.28
4. R. Farquhar Kawasaki 01 14 14.26
5. I. Lougher Yamaha 01 14 15.50
Anstey returned - with the right parts in place! - two days later for the second Supersport race, and repeated his performance, recording a comfortable win - his seventh in TT competition - and even setting a new lap record on the second of four circuits.
Relentless Supersport race two
1. B. Anstey Suzuki 01 13 15.71
2. I Hutchinson Yamaha 01 14 09.76
3. R. Farquhar Kawasaki 01 14.23.14
4. I. Lougher Yamaha 01 14 40.63
5. G. Martin Honda 01 14 51.73
The blue riband event of the festival, the Dainese Senior TT, was set to be a battle between the colonials and the Brits. In contrast to the opening race, this time around Anstey and Donald suffered mechanical problems, but not before both enjoyed a share of the lead. Anstey lead the first two laps before a broken chain and clutch problems at the first pit stop ended his race. This handed the challenge to Donald, who was a mere second off McGuinness at the end of the third lap. A lap later the Aussie was in the lead and starting to pull away. At the start of the final lap, Donald's lead was out to 5 seconds - good, but certainly not good enough for the Aussie to coast to the finish line.
In the end however, that's exactly waht he had to do when his bike started losing oil. With no option but to slow down and short shift to stand any chance of completing the race, Donald could do nothing to stop McGuinness recording his 14th TT win - equal to the great Mike Hailwood.
After such a trouble free run up to that point, TAS Racing attributed Donald's heartbreaking last minute failure to a cracked crankcase endured after repeated pounding on the Barregarrow stretch of the 37.73 mile course.
Dainese Senior TT
1. J. McGuinness Honda 01 46 47.69
2. C. Donald Suzuki 01 47 38.64
3. I. Hutchison Yamaha 01 48 29.44
4. R. Farquhar Kawasaki 01 48 47.45
5. S. Plater Yamaha 01 49 22.02
