Beloved by both trade and industry as a defining showcase for the hottest steeds that can be ridden out of dealerships in essentially OE specification (plus safety-oriented suspension mods), the RL360 Superstock TT never fails to please. And this year saw the challenge doubled in content to span a pair of scintillating three-lap races.
There were only ever going to be a trio of headline contenders — BMW’s M1000RR, the latest Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR and Kawasaki’s ZX10RR Ninja. Betting odds had the money on BMW Motorrad UK, with its factory-backed FHO Racing squad of outright TT lap record holder Peter Hickman and two-times British Superbike Championship winner Josh Brookes.
But the appearance of a resurgent Michael Dunlop, Fireblade-mounted thanks to his long-term Hawk Racing relationship, got the bookies twitching. Dunlop had already beaten Hickman in the RST Superbike TT event. And nobody was going to rule out elite dealer team Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles — the eponymous Clive Padgett of which had put exceptionally well-prepared Fireblades under rising star Davey Todd and local veteran hero Conor Cummins. Dean Harrison on his DAO Racing Ninja couldn’t be ignored as a threat either.
However, when push came to shove, BMW UK marketing and PR manager Scott Grimsdall had nothing much to worry about. Hickman comprehensively cleared off in both Superstock races, also underlining BMW hegemony by extending the outright TT lap record in his third and final circulation to an incredible 136.358mph — faster than he’d ever managed on a full-kitted Superbike to date.
Brookes, who hadn’t raced on the Isle of Man for five years while contractually confined to BSB duties, turned in an impressive performance too. Choosing to stick with a Superstock-spec BMW machine for refreshment of his course knowledge throughout practice, qualifying and the large-capacity races, he finished a creditable seventh in the RST Superbike six-lapper and then fifth in the Milwaukee Senior TT, also run over six laps. In the exclusively Superstock events employing just half that distance, he suffered an almost immediate DNF in the first, owing to an electrical malfunction, and then took a firm fifth place in the second.
The only significant grief during Scott Grimsdall’s campaign for career-enhancing corporate glory was from TT attendance by BMW Motorrad supremo Dr Markus Schramm, who flew over from Munich to share his brand’s success. Schramm became Peter Hickman’s “pillion in a million” — treated to a fast open-roads Mountain Course lap — until the spoilsport Manx constabulary intervened. Hicky allegedly took the rap and paid the speeding fine.