TT 1991
Steve Hislop, after the disappointments of 1990, was in a determined mood.
In practice he had smashed his own course record unofficially at 124.36mph on his 750 Honda. Teammate Carl Fogarty, just contesting the Formula One, was second fastest at 123.66mph, with Yamaha rider Brian Morrison third at 120.37mph. Joey Dunlop had clocked his first 120-plus lap at 120.16mph.
In the race, Hislop set off at a storming pace - he lapped at 122.83mph to lead Fogarty by 9.4 seconds with Morrison third. Joey limped into the pits in 21st place and retired after a fork seal broke in the first mile and spewed out oil.
By the end of lap two Hislop, with a new course record at 123.48mph, was in front of his teammate. By the fourth lap the Scotsman's lead had increased to 31 seconds and at the end of the six laps he crossed the line one minute 16 seconds ahead of Fogarty, having set a new race record at exactly 121mph. Trevor Nation finished third, but was later excluded for an oversize fuel tank, bringing Morrison into the top three.
Dave Leach (Yamaha) scored a start to finish victory once again in the Supersport 400 race, increased to four laps and run concurrently with the Ultra Lightweight 125cc TT.
Fastest in practice, Barry Woodland dramatically became a non-starter when he came off his road bike at the bottom of Barregarroo during a sighting lap before the roads closed!
At the end of the opening lap it was Leach, Brian Reid and Hislop in third, a further 37.73 miles and Steve Hislop had moved into second position, with Moodie having moved into third in front of Morrison. Hislop closed to 11.8 seconds from the leader at the end of lap three, but Dave Leach pulled out all the stops on the final lap, equalling his own lap record of 109.39mph, to win from Steve Hislop by 16.4 seconds, with Jim Moodie in third spot.
Honda-mounted Robert Dunlop scored his third successive record breaking win in the 125cc race. He had dominated the practice sessions and topped the leader board at 106.57mph. But at the end of the first of the four laps it was big brother Joey who led Robert by 22 seconds, with Phillip McCallen in third place.
By the time the leaders came into the pits at half distance, Joey was 19.8 seconds up on his brother and the leader board was unchanged. Joey had a problem, however. A slow pit stop, in which the petrol breather pipe was broken, robbed him of his chance of a 14th TT win.
Yet, at the end of the third lap, he only trailed by 4.4 seconds. Robert had the message, however, and with a new lap record at 106.71mph he took the chequered flag to complete a hat trick of wins 39.4 seconds ahead of Joey with Bob Heath third.
Steve Hislop topped the practice leader board for the 1991 Junior 250cc race, the one he wanted to win, at 115.60mph. However, at the end of the first lap it was Phillip McCallen who led with a lap of 114.73mph, from Brian Reid and Robert Dunlop. Hizzy was fourth., followed by Lougher and Joey.
By the end of the second lap two of the favourites, Steve Hislop and Ian Lougher, were out within 100 yards of each other at Union Mills.
McCallen was leading by one second from Reid, with Robert Dunlop in third. However, exiting the pits, Robert held the advantage over Phillip and at the end of the penultimate lap he was 5.6 seconds in front of Brian Reid, with McCallen a further second down.
On the final circuit, Brian Reid came off at the exit of Handleys Corner. Phillip McCallen clocked up the fastest lap of the race, but Robert held on to complete the double by 5.8 seconds, with Steve Hazlett up to third, Ian Newton fourth, Joey Dunlop fifth and Dave Leach sixth.
Dave Leach was all out for a Supersport double in the 600cc race, despite the fact that Steve Hislop had topped the practice leader board at 115.89mph. At the end of the first lap Dave Leach led Steve Hislop by 1.2 seconds with Bob Jackson third. By the end of the second lap Hislop led Leach by 8.6 seconds, with third place now taken by Steve Cull, having pushed Jackson back to fourth.
Hislop increased his lead by the end of the third lap over Cull, to 34.8 seconds, with Jackson slotting into third. Dave Leach was fourth, but in trouble and was forced to retire at the pits.
Steve Hislop won his second race of the week by 30 seconds from Steve Cull, with Bob Jackson retaining his third place.
With the fastest-ever race speed, Steve Hislop (Honda) led the Senior from start to finish and notched up his second hat trick of wins, equalling the record of Mike Hailwood and Joey Dunlop. His opening lap of 121.09mph put him 99.8 seconds in front of Joey Dunlop, who had taken over Carl Fogarty's RVF Honda. Trevor Nation had the Norton in third place.
Steve increased his lead over Joey at the end of lap two to 18.8 seconds, and the only change to the leader board was that Morrison took third place from Nation. The difference between the leaders at the end of lap three was 29 seconds with Morrison still holding third place.
By the time lap four had been completed the gap between Hislop and Dunlop was 49.8 seconds. The top two were separated by one minute four seconds at the end of lap five. The question on the final circuit was could Hislop catch his teammate on the road?
He did, taking victory as they crossed the line side by side by two minutes 20 seconds. Phillip McCallen moved up to third place to make it a Honda one-two-three. Brian Morrison, after wiring up a loose exhaust, took fourth, followed by Nick Jefferies and Bob Jackson.
Mick Boddice and Dave Wells gave Honda their first Sidecar victory with a start to finish win in Sidecar Race A and went on to complete the double by taking Race B, notching up his ninth Sidecar TT victory, equalling the record of Siegfried Schauzu and Dave Saville.
Neil Smith and Steve Mace took runner-up place in race A followed by Artie Oates and Stuart Pitts. In Race B it was Geoff Bell and Keith Cornbill who claimed second position with Dave Molyneux and Karl Ellison completing the leader board.