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by Philip Wain

With two days and three races held so far at the Isle of Man TT races, James Hillier and the Bournemouth Kawasaki Pr1mo Racing team have been excelling and with three top seven finishes, the 27-year old has posted his best ever TT results, including a brilliant fifth in Monday's Supersport TT. After being on the leaderboard in all his classes during practice week, particularly the Lightweight where he was second quickest, race week got underway for James on Saturday with the 6-lap Superbike TT. Fifth through Glen Helen, the first timing point, James completed the opening lap in sixth place with a lap of 127.811mph and although he got shuffled back to seventh a lap later by William Dunlop, he was still comfortably ahead of eighth placed rider Ian Hutchinson. Consistently lapping in excess of 126mph, James was able to consolidate his position for the remainder of the race to claim a strong seventh. The week got even better on Monday with his best ever TT result, fifth in the first Supersport TT race and again the first Kawasaki rider home. Despite not getting many laps on the bike during practice week, a strong opening lap of 121.829mph placed James in ninth place. Although he dropped back to 12th on lap two, he was still only two seconds off ninth such was the closeness of the race and combined with Michael Dunlop retiring, Daniel Kneen crashing (fortunately without serious injury), and his own strong lap he moved up to seventh. The gap he now held over Dan Stewart, Roy Richardson and Ian Lougher was up to eleven seconds and with the final lap seeing Ryan Farquhar and Gary Johnson both retire, James took a brilliant fifth at the chequered flag. Later that same evening, there was the 4-lap Superstock race and a fantastic start saw James lie in second place at Glen Helen, nine miles into the lap, just half a second behind John McGuinness. At the end of the lap James had slipped back to sixth but it was again very close with just a handful of seconds covering the riders in third to eighth. For the remainder of the race, James enjoyed a good dice on the roads with Michael Rutter and Dan Stewart and the battle meant that James closed in on Bruce Anstey and Guy Martin who were battling for fourth. At the end of over 150 miles, James finished in a very strong sixth place, just four seconds behind Martin and five behind Anstey. Speaking on Tuesday, team owner Pete Extance said; "What can I say, the week's going really, really well and after being strong throughout practice week, James has carried that good form into race week. A solid seventh got the races underway in fine style and even though the Supersport race is our weakest class, it's ended up giving James and the team our best result so far. Due to only having one engine left, James didn't get many laps on it during practice and although there were a few retirements in the race, the name of the game is to get to the finish and that's what James did. He was always in the top ten and the lap times were good so we were delighted with the result and also being the first Kawasaki home." "It set us up for the evening's Superstock race and James set off at a fantastic pace, running in second at Glen Helen. The gaps between the top half dozen riders was always close and the second half of the race saw James comfortably in the top six and right on the tail of Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey. He was able to consolidate his position and had a great dice on the roads with Michael and Dan and the end result was another good sixth place. Even more pleasing was the fact that he was just five seconds off fourth place and multiple race winner Bruce Anstey. That made it three top seven finishes out of three starts and we're all now really looking forward to the rest of the week, especially the Lightweight TT race on Friday where James has a really good chance of a dream debut victory." The next race is Wednesday's second 4-lap Supersport race with Friday seeing the 3-lap Lightweight and 6-lap Senior races. Picture by Paul Woodlock.

- Ends -

If you'd like to send any information or news releases to us then please feel free to do so and we would be more than happy to consider sharing your news with the Isle of Man!

Send your Isle of Man news to:webmaster@manx.net

Manx Telecom Ltd 2012

Manx Telecom Ltd, Isle of Man Business Park, Cooil Road, Braddan, Isle of Man IM99 1HX Registered in the Isle of Man Reg no.5629V Vat Reg no GB 003-2919-12

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Hillier enjoying superb week on the Island

29 May 2012 Last updated at 09:15 ET

The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

The island is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union, but is a possession of the British Crown with an independent administration. Its inhabitants are British citizens.

The Isle of Man was permanently settled by Celts and fell under Viking control in 1079. The Viking legacy is seen in many place names and the title of the Tynwald parliament, although the Celtic Manx language predominated until the 19th century.

Man passed to the Scottish crown in 1266, and then to the feudal lordship of the Stanley family under the English crown. The British crown acquired the lordship in 1764, but never incorporated the island into the United Kingdom.

Profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

The Tynwald parliament was granted autonomy in 1866, and steadily advanced to democracy in step with the United Kingdom. Established no later than 979, it is one of various assemblies that claim to be the oldest parliament in the world. The Tynwald elects the Council of Ministers, presided over since 1986 by a chief minister. Most members of the Tynwald are independents.

Native-born people make up 47.6 per cent of the population, with the rest almost entirely accounted for by immigrants from the United Kingdom. People born in England make up 37.2 per cent alone.

As a Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union. The Tynwald passes its own legislation with the assent of the Crown granted in the Privy Council. The Crown is responsible for defence and diplomatic representation, and acts on the advice of the UK Ministry of Justice. The Isle of Man has its own controls on immigration and housing.

The Isle of Man has relatively low taxes and this has encouraged a major offshore financial sector that accounts for most of GDP. Over recent years the Manx government has made a concerted effort to cast off the island's reputation as a tax haven, signing tax information exchange deals with over a dozen countries.

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Isle of Man profile

Kiwi Bruce Anstey won one of the most thrilling races in Isle of Man TT history when he won the Supersport TT today by just .77 of a second from Cameron Donald.

Once long time leader Michael Dunlop retired on the third lap, there was never more than a couple of seconds between Anstey, Donald and Gary Johnson with only the smallest margin - .62 of a second - separating the trio at Ramsey Hairpin on the final lap. However, Johnson ran out of fuel on the final drop down the Mountain and Anstey's final lap of 126.634 mph was enough for him to come home for his ninth TT win - 10 years after his first back in 2002.

A road traffic accident caused a two-hour delay to the proceeding but when it did start it was the two Dunlops, Michael and William, who were fastest out of the blocks. Michael led through Glen Helen on the opening lap - albeit by just .25 of a second and, in typical Supersport fashion, it was close across the top 10. Johnson was in third, 1.5 seconds adrift, and he was followed by Donald, Anstey, Ryan Farquhar and John McGuinness with just a further 1.5 seconds splitting third to seventh.

Irish eyes were smiling on Michael Dunlop though at the head of the field and with the fastest lap of the race, 126.948 mph, his lead increased to almost 22 seconds at half race distance. Johnson took over the runner-up spot when they came into the pits to refuel and William was still in third with Anstey now up to fourth ahead of Donald.

Things began to change on the third lap and when Michael Dunlop was reported late at Glen Helen, it handed the lead to Johnson with an advantage of 3.5 seconds over new second-placed man Donald. Anstey was another second behind and William Dunlop a similar gap behind in fourth. Then news came through that Michael Dunlop had stopped at Ballig Bridge.

Johnson was in trouble though and as he ran out of fuel on the drop down the Mountain, he pushed in to eventually finish in 28th place and William Dunlop took advantage to clinch the final podium spot, his first top three finish around the Mountain Course. Farquhar overtook McGuinness as he circulated with Donald, but the Irishman also ran out of fuel on the final lap at Creg ny Baa and so McGuinness took fourth ahead of James Hillier, who recorded his best-ever TT finish.

The results mean Anstey now leads the TT Championship with 41 points closely followed by Donald on 40 and McGuinness on 38.

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Antsey Wins Isle of Man TT Thriller

Bruce Anstey and John McGuinness took the victories in Monday's races at the Isle of Man TT.

Anstey edged out Cameron Donald by 0.77 seconds in Supersport Race One for his ninth TT win with William Dunlop taking his first Isle of Man podium finish.

Michael Dunlop led by 21 seconds after lap two before retiring.

McGuinness clinched his 19th TT win as he finished 7.8 seconds ahead of Michael Dunlop in the Superstock race with Ryan Farquhar in third.

Padgett's Honda rider McGuinness led Farquhar by 0.17 seconds after lap one, by four seconds after lap two and by 12 seconds after the third lap as he went on to clinch his first TT Superstock victory.

A final lap of 129.253mph, the fastest of the race, saw Dunlop move up to take second with Farquhar five seconds adrift of his fellow countryman.

Supersport winner Anstey, Guy Martin and James Hillier made up the top six.

In the earlier Supersport race, Michael Dunlop led by 10 seconds after lap one and by 21 seconds after lap two but retired at Ballig Bridge on his third circuit after setting the fastest lap of the race at 126.95mph.

Gary Johnson led after lap three but ran out of fuel in the closing stages which enabled William Dunlop to take his first-ever TT podium finish.

The 26-year-old Wilson Craig Honda trailed second-placed finisher Donald by 14 seconds at the chequered flag.

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Anstey & McGuinness earn TT wins

by Philip Wain

Dan Kneen got his 2012 Isle of Man TT Races campaign underway with a solid 11th place in the opening 6-lap Superbike TT race. Despite having a fraught few weeks leading up to the event, which saw him building the Superbike GSXR1000 Suzuki right up until the first night of practice, Dan was able to post a series of 125mph+ laps and pick up yet another silver replica. The result also saw him finish 2nd in the TT Privateer's Championship. With conditions towards the end of practice week not ideal, Dan had only actually managed one lap on the Superbike machine during the entire week and with Friday's session being cancelled due to an oil spillage he came into Saturday's race somewhat blind with his settings. However, a good opening lap of 125.977mph allowed him to sit in 12th place at the end of the first lap and with another 125mph lap, he moved up to 11th at the conclusion of the second lap as he came into the pits for his first stop. A good stop enabled him to maintain 11th but a strong lap of 125.934mph saw him move up to tenth at two thirds race distance. Michael Dunlop pushed him back to 11th a lap later and although the sixth and final lap was his quickest - 126.072mph - he ended the race just 3.25s behind the Irishman after almost two hours of racing. Speaking afterwards, a satisfied Dan said: "After only managing one lap in practice on the Superbike race, I've got to be pleased with 11th today. With a lack of time on the bike, I hadn't managed to get a setting I was totally happy with so I took it steady on the first lap as I needed to get the brake pads bedded in and all sorts. The gearing was too tall and the wheelbase too long so the bike wasn't close to where I wanted to be and it was very much a high speed practice session for me. Having said that, I learnt an awful lot about the bike and if I can do a 126mph lap when the bike's not right, I'm sure we can find a fair bit more speed when it's dialled in more. Obviously, I would have liked to have gone quicker today and finished higher up but it's a solid start and one from which we can build on. Monday should be a good couple of races for me so I'll be aiming for higher then." Dan will be in action next on Monday when he'll contest the 4-lap Supersport and Superstock races. Picture by Mark 'Wally' Walters.

Monday should be a good couple of races for me so I'll be aiming for higher then."

Dan Kneen,

If you'd like to send any information or news releases to us then please feel free to do so and we would be more than happy to consider sharing your news with the Isle of Man!

Send your Isle of Man news to:webmaster@manx.net

Manx Telecom Ltd 2012

Manx Telecom Ltd, Isle of Man Business Park, Cooil Road, Braddan, Isle of Man IM99 1HX Registered in the Isle of Man Reg no.5629V Vat Reg no GB 003-2919-12

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Solid TT start for Kneen