DAO Racing is celebrating its first Isle of Man TT  podium of the year after rider Dean Harrison crossed the line third in today’s RST Superbike race.

The Bradford rider ran in second place for the first five laps of the six lap race, but missed out on the runner-up spot after being passed on the final lap.

The official Kawasaki road racing squad started well as Harrison slotted in behind Michael Dunlop who led from the first lap, initially keeping in close contact with the leader.

The team pulled-out two good pit stops but were unable to make up much ground to Dunlop and then in the final lap, Harrison was just pipped by Peter Hickman and had to settle for third at the end of a tough race in blazing sunshine.

Dean Harrison, rider:

“I’m over the moon, honestly. Michael’s riding is on top form, Pete’s on top form so to be in the mix with them for the whole race is a good place to be.

“Obviously we do want to do better, but honestly I can’t begin to describe how tough six laps around here are. It’s physically demanding and mentally draining, it’s so difficult to keep your concentration.

“We have a day off tomorrow now but I’m looking forward to the rest of the week. We’ve got a Superstock race coming next on Tuesday and we’ve got a lot of data for the Superbike now so hopefully we can go back and get it all refined for the Senior next Saturday.”

Jonny Bagnall, Team Manager:

“It’s a definite improvement on last year, the racing was relatively close but Michael was on another level for the first few laps. Dean said he rode his own race at his own steady pace but we just weren’t quite there today.

“He says the bike is good, everything was good there’s just a few little things he’s mentioned that we can look into to try and help him out but I think a good rest will do him some good and hopefully he’s game for Saturday.

“As a team we’ll now analyse everything, see what we can do, see what Dean’s got left and where we can go. When you look at how the weather has been and all the laps we’ve logged, it’s been a tiring week so it’ll be good to have a day off to recuperate and hopefully come back out fighting later in the week.”