Manx Grand Prix: Stephen Smith dominates to win Senior race

Stephen Smith led the race from lap one

Stephen Smith put in a solid performance to dominate the Senior Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man.

The 36-year-old from Liverpool brought his Kawasaki ZX-R6 home in 1hr 16mins 01.391 secs, 38.609 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Daniel Ingham.

Ingham, 29, from Melton Mowbray, had a close-fought battle on his Yamaha R6 with third place man Jamie Williams.

There was less than a second between the pair at the end of the four-laps on the Mountain Course.

Stephen Smith finished 38 seconds ahead of his rivals

Local rider Williams, also 29, had taken an early lead on his Honda CBR600RR in the first sector of lap one before being overhauled by Smith.

He had built up a lead of more than 13 secs by the end of the lap, with David McConnachy a further 2.2 seconds back in third.

A push from Chris Cook saw him slot into third place by Ballaugh on lap two before Ingham put himself in contention for a podium finish by the end of the lap.

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Meanwhile, Smith continued to extend his lead on Williams to more than 37 seconds as the machines came into the pits.

The gap had closed by three seconds when the riders got back out on the 37.75-mile circuit before Smith pulled away again to give himself a 41-second cushion at the front of the pack at the end of lap three.

The battle for second place heated up on the final lap of the Mountain Course, with Ingham just sneaking ahead of Williams by 0.6 seconds at Ballaugh.

In a tight finish for the remaining podium places, Williams had closed that gap to just 0.068 seconds by the time the pair reached the chequered flag on Glencrutchery Road.

Stephen Smith completed his personal best lap of 121.796mph during the race

Speaking to Manx Radio, Smith said it was "really surprising" that he managed to put in a personal best lap of 121.796mph.

"I was short-shifting trying to bring her home. I don't know what happened at the start but all the way through Ballagarey, Crosby she was missing, and I thought 'oh no'", he said.

"I think there must be something wrong with the clutch because going through Governor's Bridge I didn't have engine breaking so the bike was just pulling itself all round and I thought 'keep going, keep going, keep going', and she brought us home."

David McConnachy, Victor Lopez, Chris Cook, Tom Robinson, Amalric Blanc, Andrew Fisher and Jack Fowler completed the top ten.