Dean Harrison smashed the lap record for the Peel Holding Senior race at the Southern 100 on Wednesday morning with a dominant victory at a sun-kissed Billown on the Isle of Man.
The Honda Racing rider took control of the race from the opening lap after starting from pole and never looked back, leading all seven laps and raising the lap record to 115.757mph as he won the opening race of the 2026 meeting at Billown by 10.273s from Manx rider Nathan Harrison.
Peter Hickman, making his debut at the Billown course, was an excellent third on the 8TEN Racing BMW.
Northern Ireland’s Michael Dunlop, who started from the front row in third place, retired from the race on the MD/Hawk Racing Honda.
Dunlop was third across the line on the first lap behind Harrison and Mike Browne, but the Ballymoney rider overshot at Ballakeighan and dropped down the field.
He was 10th after the third lap when he pulled out of the race, with Dunlop seemingly battling brake issues on the machine.
Cork rider Browne, who had moved up to second place on his MB Racing/Russell Racing Honda, lost a lot of ground on the second lap and had dropped down the order at Cross Four Ways. Browne was languishing in 15th position after lap three but eventually finished the race in ninth place.
Out front, there was no stopping Isle of Man TT Superbike and Senior race winner Harrison, who was already 6.5s clear of the pack after only two laps.
The Bradford man, who lives in Ballaugh on the island, pulled a lead of 8.294s over Nathan Harrison (H&H Motorcycles Honda) after his record lap on the third lap.
Harrison controlled the race on his Honda Racing Fireblade and another hot lap of 115.724mph on the fifth lap gave him an increased advantage of 10.370s.
Nathan Harrison and Hickman were disputing the runner-up spot and were clear of the battle for fourth place involving Dominic Herbertson, Paul Jordan and Joe Yeardsley.
A mistake by Herbertson on his BMW dropped him out of contention and Magherafelt’s Jordan came out on top of a battle with Manx rider Yeardsley to secure fourth place.
Hickman had closed to within half-a-second of Nathan Harrison going onto the final lap, but the 14-time TT winner rolled off on his 8TEN Racing BMW and settled for third, crossing the line one second behind runner-up Harrison.
Herbertson took sixth ahead of Isle of Man riders Marcus Simpson (Honda) and Conor Cummins (BMW).
Five races are scheduled on Wednesday evening, with roads closing around the course from 18:00 BST.
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