The 2009 TT races have been a mixed bag for most of the racers and no one rider has taken the spoils.

Bruce Anstey had a cracking practice week on the Relentless Suzuki but the only race he finished (with a 2nd place) was the second Supersports race, this was due to mechanical breakdowns which plagued the team, finishing with a dramatic finale with his bike catching fire in the senior!

Teammate Cameron Donald set the fastest average lap time during practice week but a crash and injury eliminated him from race week.

John McGuinness took his 15th TT win in the Superbike race and despite a lack of form in the Supersport and Superstock races was hot favourite to win his 5th (in a row) Senior TT.

Michael Dunlop, over on the Isle of Man with the Norton racing team, never got to actually race the Norton in the Senior TT as planned, after all of the engines got blown up in practice, but provided evidence – as if we needed any – that the Dunlop Dynasty is far from over – with a fantastic performance in the Supersport, taking his maiden win at the TT.

Guy Martin, the tea-supping, steam engine loving, all round nice guy, still remains the bridesmaid as far as winning a TT race goes, but he did manage to scoop a few podiums.

Iain Hutchinson fared best out of all of the riders during race week scoring two wins – one in the supersport and one in the superstock races, and was the favourite to win the Joey Dunlop Memorial Trophy.

The Senior TT, described by John McGuinness as the Blue Riband race, is the most important one of the weeks’ racing for most of the riders. There is also the Joey Dunlop Memorial Trophy for the rider who gains the most points over the week and £10,000 in cash.

Murray Walker had the honour of dropping the flag for the start of the race and McGuinness was on form right from the off, and from second to start the race, was soon catching the number one starter Gary Johnson (starts are ten seconds apart). The first pit stop went without incident and the crowd at the grandstand were cheering McGuinness on and the win looked his at that stage, but nothing is guaranteed at the TT as he was later to find out.

Bruce Anstey’s bad luck continued when he dramtically ditched his bike on the run down to Creg-ny-Baa in what looked to be an electrical fire on his bike.

Gary Johnson, whether in exuberance or lack of braking, managed to overshoot the stop box and incurred a ten second penalty, this dropped him back to 4th and promoted Martin to 3rd.

This started a run of dramas – firstly in a dramatic end to McGuinness’ Senior TT hopes his chain broke in Ramsay and his race was over. This left the way open for his teammate Steve Plater, the great all-rounder of British Superbikes and Supersports.

One consolation was that McGuinness had also broken the fastest average lap record with a speed of 1.31578.

Being a six lap race there are two pit stops and the drama and the excitement continued.

• First off there was a near coming together of Steve Plater and manx man Conor Cummins.
• Next Guy Martin’s chain broke as he took off from his pit stop, which ended his race.
• Finally Keith Amor – from the TV coverage the impression was that the crew dropped the rear of the bike before the rear spindle was back in situ – oops! He did not look a happy bunny.

On the next lap a fallen rider and oil flags warning riders did not stop Iain Hutchinson crashing his bike and he was out.

Now the leader board had changed dramatically.

Steve Plater was still leading, Conor Cummins was second and Gary Johnson third. Despite Platers large lead he and Johnson still managed to entertain the crowds around the circuit with some great riding and there’s no doubting that Plater, Cummins and Johnson were very popular podium finishers for the assembled crowd at the grandstand.

Steve Plater also took the Joey Dunlop Trophy and the £10,000 cheque, well done to him.

To catch the round of the weeks’ racing ITV4 are showing a two-part summary from 6pm Sunday.

If you want to book for next year (we do!) then there is some good info on the official Isle of Man TT website: www.iomtt.com.

The weeks racing results:

Senior TT:
1 Steve Plater
2 Conor Cummins
3 Gary Johnson

Supersport Race 1
1 Iain Hutchinson
2 Guy Martin
3 Keith Amor

Supersport Race 2
1 Michael Dunlop
2 Bruce Anstey
3 Conor Cummins

Superstock
1 Iain Hutchinson
2 Guy Martin
3 Keith Amor

Superbike
1 John McGuinness
2 Steve Plater
3 Guy Martin

Sidecars Race 1
1 Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle
2 Philip Dongworth/Gary Partridge
3 6 Simon Neary/Stuart Bond

Sidecar Race 2 cancelled due to a crash

TTXGP

1 Rob Barber
2 Thomas Schoenfelder
3 Mark Buckley

Full results available by clicking here