Isle of Man TT: Phil Crowe nails 17th in Senior TT

Phil Crowe is eager to improve after an encouraging 2017 TT EMN-171206-114505002

The Market Rasen rider set his fastest-ever lap around the TT course with an average speed of 129.041mph to cap a good overall performance at the week-long festival.

Following his stunning performance in the opening Superbike race of the meet where he secured his best-ever result and a personal best lap time, he went into the four-lap Supersport hoping for another strong finish.

But it wasn’t to be as he retired at the end of lap one.

“I pulled out of the Supersport race because the conditions just weren’t worth the risk,” he explained.

“Our focus is on the big bikes and looking at the injuries riders have picked up, and from comments others have made, I feel it was the right decision.”

Crowe was looking forward to a good race on the bigger bike in the four-lap Superstock race last Wednesday and completed the first 37.73-mile lap in 25th.

He moved up to 20th at the end of lap two when he came in for his refuelling stop, and having maintained the place on the third lap, he then made up time to cross the finish line in 18th.

He said: “I was happy at that considering I only had four laps on the bike in practice.

“But I feel I could have been 30 to 40 seconds further up the leaderboard. We put new forks in the bike for the race and after only having a few laps last week it just took my confidence away for the first few laps until I got a feel for it.

I was beginning to run out of fuel on lap two and again on the last lap which cost me a chunk of time.”

Heavy rain cancelled the second Supersport on Thursday which just left Crowe to race the Superbike in the six-lap Senior TT on Friday.

After just a lap-and-a-half, a red flag brought the riders back to the paddock after a crash involving Ian Hutchinson who was airlifted to hospital with leg injuries.

The race was reduced to four laps, and Crowe made good progress, setting his new personal best on the final lap and completing in a strong 17th place.

He said: “That was good and I’m really happy with that last lap time. I lost 10 seconds in the pits when refuelling or I could have been 11th.

“But a lesson has been learned to be a bit quicker in that couple of laps to be able to claim a top 10 result.

“We will be back next year to put that into practice. I have to give a massive thank-you to all my sponsors and my team who have worked hard throughout the two weeks.”