Nemesis - Anstey wins Supersport Race 2
Bruce Anstey gave a commanding performance to win the Relentless Supersport Race 2; two days after having his first race taken from him by the stewards. Ryan Farquhar won the trophy for the best aggregate performance.
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 Nemesis – Relentless Supersport Race 2 The Relentless Supersport Race 2 gave us the result that almost everyone wanted; a commanding victory for Bruce Anstey, who had his win taken from him after race 1. Bruce was delighted with his victory and full praise for his team when I was able to speak to him briefly at the prize presentation. He said that he thought the bike was even better than it had been on Monday, when a minor technical infringement led to his exclusion from the results. His popularity with fans and rivals was clear for all to see when he was given a standing ovation as he climbed onto the Villa Marina stage to collect his trophies. Conditions for the race were good, blue skies, dry roads, but a stiff breeze that was most noticeable on the Mountain Mile where it was in the riders’ faces. Once the flag dropped the crowd waited expectantly for news from the first commentary position at Glen Helen. As in Saturday’s Superbike race it was Ian Hutchinson who was fastest to the popular vantage point; he had a 0.4s lead over Anstey with John McGuinness 3rd with first man on the road Guy Martin in 4th. First into Ramsey was Guy Martin; who had pulled out 7 seconds on number 2 Conor Cummins. Then came John McGuinness, but something was clearly not right with his machine; he looked down at the right hand side as went through the square, despite this he was third on corrected time on our watch. It transpired that the machine had an oil leak that was putting oil onto his boot causing it to slip on the footrest. This caused John to have second retirement of the week at the end of the lap. Bruce Anstey was the next man on the road and he had 8s advantage over Martin on our watch. Next came a group of Ian Hutchinson, who was just 0.8s behind Anstey on our watch; Ryan Farquhar; 10s down on Hutchinson and Cameron Donald, a further 10s down on corrected time. Keith Amor was next through; but well down on corrected time; he was to go no further than the Bungalow where he was black flagged. Ian Lougher was 1s behind Farquhar on our watch; with next man through Steve Plater 6s down on Ian. Steve’s race was over at the Bungalow; which meant that the first three from Monday’s race were all retirements before a single lap had been completed. Gary Johnson at number 18 was going well again; we had him in 8th place. Hutchinson refused to stick to the script and it was he who was fastest over the mountain to lead the race by 0.83s as they crossed the line; his lap speed was 124.261mph. Third was Ryan Farquhar, having another great ride on his Harker machine; fourth was Guy Martin; fifth Ian Lougher; with Conor Cummins completing the top six. Having been rather tense at the start Anstey settled into his rhythm and began to take control of the race from Ian Hutchinson; who dogged by ill luck gad at one stage been contemplating going home. At Ramsey Guy Martin still led on the roads with Anstey now second, then it was Cummins, Hutchinson, Farquhar and Lougher. Our watch had Anstey 3.8s ahead on corrected time from Hutchinson; with Farquhar a further 10s behind him. Guy Martin was fourth; with man on the move Gary Johnson up to5th, with the evergreen Ian Lougher 6th; 24 years after making his debut. Lougher scored a podium finish in that debut year, second place in the Historic 500cc Race behind Dave Roper. Mats Nilsson was noted as going very well on his Padgetts Manx Gas Honda. Michael Dunlop provided some excitement as he fish tailed into the right hander; however he lost little time and was in 8th place on our watch. Anstey continued to pile on the coals and despite the strong headwind on the mountain section he set a new a class lap record at 125.359mph; one that would not be deleted from the record books. Hutchy lapped at 124.35mph to be 8.8s behind as they slowed to enter the pits. A rapid stop by the TAS team saw Anstey out of the pits with is lead intact. One who lost some time was Mats Nilsson who overshot the stop box and picked up a 5s penalty for his trouble; he was 10th at the end of the lap. The top six at half distance were Anstey; Hutchinson; Farquhar; Martin; Johnson and Lougher. Such was the pace of the race that the first 12 were all averaging over 120mph. There were some close tussles through the field both on the road and on time keeping the crowd entertained. One such tussle involved Stephen Oates, Paul Owen and newcomers Jamie Robinson and James Hillier, who dropped his Suzuki at Signpost on lap 4 right in front of sponsor Martin Bullock. James remounted and gained the last silver replica. Lap 3 saw Anstey gradually increasing his advantage; at Ramsey it was just over 11s on our watch. This lap saw the end of Cameron Donald’s effort at the Mountain Box. The battle for fourth provided the main interest with Johnson closing to just 2.9s behind Martin as they began the mountain climb for the third time; Lougher was just 5.1s behind Johnson on our watch. Over the mountain Anstey eked out a further advantage to lead by 21.4s as they headed for the descent of Bray Hill for the final time. Farquhar was 15s clear of Guy Martin; who had just 1.5s lead over Johnson; Lougher was 5.3s further behind. Anstey was able to ride to his boards on the final lap keeping the distance between himself and Hutchinson fairly constant. Ryan Farquhar had a 20s safety cushion in third; but it was from Ian Lougher who was on the charge and had moved ahead of both Gary Johnson and Guy Martin on our watch. Lougher’s was the fastest final lap of all at 123.639mph and it did secure 4th place for him at the finish. A relatively slow final tour dropped Martin to 6th, behind the impressive Gary Johnson. This is only Gary’s second year at the event; next year he will be pushing for a podium finish. Another strong performance saw 2 Metre Man Conor Cummins take 7th; with Michael Dunlop in 8th. Michael received a standing ovation as he went to the stage to collect his silver replica and there was not a dry eye in the house as he spoke of the tragic loss of his father Robert and how he wanted to represent the Dunlop name and keep it to the forefront at events such as the TT. Everyone has taken Michael to their heart; what an amazing show of courage; skill and determination he has given. The prize for the lowest aggregate time over the two legs went to Ryan Farquhar; for his third and fourth place finishes. Ryan has ridden exceptionally well; exceeding his expectations and reminding us of just what a good rider he is. 1. Bruce Anstey 123.041mph 2. Ian Hutchinson 122.099mph 3. Ryan Farquhar 121.733mph 4. Ian Lougher 121.258mph 5. Gary Johnson 121.138mph 6. Guy Martin 120.958mph 7. Conor Cummins 120.455mph 8. Michael Dunlop 119.838mph 9. Adrian Archibald 119.197mph 10 Daniel Stewart 119.118mph 11 Roy Richardson 118.937mph 12 Mats Nilsson 118.890mph
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