Dramatic win for Anderson in Senior Classic MGP
Anderson took the win by less than a second in the reduced-lap race
- Published
Shaun Anderson took a dramatic maiden victory in the delayed Classic Senior Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man.
Reduced to one lap due to weather delays, the Banbridge man chased John McGuinness down over the 37.73-mile (60km) circuit, snatching the win by just 0.163 seconds.
Newcomer Harley Rushton also had his first taste of victory, triumphing by two seconds from Glen English in the Junior Classic MGP class.
Due to significant disruption to the qualifying and racing schedule throughout the race meeting, that event was run at the same time, also over a single lap.
McGuinness edged out in one-lap battle
In the Senior Classic, 23-time Isle of Man TT winner McGuinness set off first on the road, holding the same position on the leaderboard by the time the competitors had negotiated the Glen Helen section.
Anderson, from Northern Ireland, had made up ground from the start by the same milestone, slotting into second place ahead of Mike Browne by just 0.3 seconds on a Norton, with Adam McLean 0.8 seconds behind him in fourth.
With McGuinness and Anderson consolidating the top two slots, Tobermore man McLean had leapfrogged Browne by Ballaugh, with an advantage of just 0.1 seconds, before falling back to fourth by Ramsey.
Anderson pulled out a significant lead over Browne over the mountain section of the 37.73-mile (60km) course on his Royal Enfield, building a 10-second gap.
The battle for first place heated up, with Anderson closing the gap on pacesetter McGuinness to 1.1 seconds by Cronk-ny-Mona.
Anderson took his maiden victory on the Isle of Man's Mountain Course
Crossing the line, Anderson took the chequered flag just 0.163 seconds ahead of McGuinness, making it a Paton one-two.
Speaking to Manx Radio, Anderson said he was “speechless” after taking his first win on the Mountain Course.
He said after taking a Newcomers' win on his debut in 2010 when he got to “stand on the box in my first year”, he had been “chasing the win ever since”.
He was “ecstatic” about crossing the line for his first victory, he added.
Jamie Coward, Paul Jordan, Dominic Herbertson, James Hillier, Will Loder, and Lancelot Unissart made up the top 10 in in the Senior Classic MGP.
Mark Johnston took third in the Junior Classic, with Chris Moore in fourth, and David Glover rounding out the top five in that race.