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Wellington’s Bruce Anstey has continued Suzuki’s domination of the Isle of Man 1000 Production TT, winning Tuesday’s race at record speed.
Anstey’s win marks the third successive year Suzuki’s all-conquering GSX-R1000 has won the 1000 Production TT – despite considerably more competition from Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki.
Not only that, in covering the three laps (182.21km / 113.25 miles) in 54 minutes 53.5 seconds, Anstey was a staggering 29 seconds under the late David Jeffries’ race record, established on a Suzuki in 2002.
Anstey’s winning race time represents an average of 123.72 mph (199.06 km/h) and was a substantial improvement on the 121.44 mph he averaged in finishing second in last year’s race.
The Johnsonville man also had the satisfaction of setting a record one lap average for the class at a whisker over 200 km/h on his Suzuki on his second circuit – despite slowing down to pit for fuel!
The win was Anstey’s third Isle of Man TT success and his new 1000 Production class lap record was a staggering 125.10 mph (201.28 km/h) – 6.9 seconds – under Jeffries’ 2002 lap record and 18 seconds faster than his own best lap in the 2003 race.
"That was a superb race for Suzuki - and the GSX-R1000 was perfect for all three laps. I had been a bit nervous before this one but my game plan was to hunt down Jason Griffiths who started in front of me, and when I caught him, I knew I was in with a great chance," Anstey said.
Philip Neill, Team Manager for the TAS Suzuki team Anstey is riding for, was delighted with the Kiwi’s win.
"Bruce did a superb job today and with the talk over the winter months about all the new 1000cc machines that were going to win this race, it’s satisfying to give Suzuki the 1000 Production victory and also prove the GSX-R1000 is still the top production machine on the market," Neill said.
"Bruce’s machine had just 70 dyno miles on the clock before we used it at the North West 200, so it is a true production winner with wins at both the NW200 and now the TT."
Last year’s 1000 Production TT was also won by a Suzuki-mounted New Zealander, Hawera’s Shaun Harris. Harris elected to race a Honda this year, but failed to feature.
Anstey’s TT win is the latest in an ever increasing and rather impressive string of successes for Suzuki’s fuel-injected, DOHC, 16-valve 988cc GSX-R1000.
After dominating the six round, 15 race New Zealand Superbike Championship last summer, Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 has continued on its winning way.
In the USA, Australian Mat Mladin got the ball rolling in March by winning the most important race in North America – the famous Daytona 200.
Since then, Mladin has gone on to notch up a further four race wins in American Motorcyclist Association Superbike competition, extending his career total to 29 AMA race victories and a record 36 pole positions.
With the AMA championship just past its half-way point, Mladin has a 10 point lead in the title chase over Honda’s Miguel DuHamel.
Meantime, in the highly competitive British Superbike Championship, Englishman John Reynolds went into an immediate series lead right from the first round at Silverstone in March.
Since then Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 has notched up five more race wins and despite Reynolds crashing and breaking his collarbone in the second race at Thruxton on June 6, he still holds and 8 point lead in the BSB series.
But Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 is not only excelling in sprint racing, it is also building on its enviable record in World Endurance Championship competition.
There the Castrol Suzuki team’s Vincent Phillipe has grabbed pole position at all three rounds run so far this year, and with his team-mates Olivier Four and Matthieu Lagrive, has won the Assen 500 km race in Holland and the Albacete 12 Hour in Spain.
They also led the Zhuhai Six-Hour in China from the first half hour and were still leading with ten minutes to go after a final fuel stop. But a crash saw them relegated to a sixth place finish.
Still, with five rounds still to go, the Castrol Suzuki team is handily placed to ensure Suzuki takes that series as well.
A measure of the esteem in which the GSX-R1000 is held can be gauged from the number of them entered in this year’s Isle of Man TT.
In the Formula One class, 27 of the 54 finishers were GSX-R1000 mounted while in the 1000 Production TT, 37 of the 66 finishers chose the Suzuki.
When Suzuki released the first GSX-R1000, its slogan was "Own the Racetrack!"
Now, despite ever-stronger competition, it still does.
RESULTS
Isle of Man 1000 Production TT
1. Bruce Anstey (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 54m 53.5s 123.73 mph
2. John McGuiness (Yamaha YZF-R1) 55m 11.5s 123.05 mph
3. Jason Griffiths (Yamaha YZF-R1) 55m 17.31s 122.83 mph
4. Ian Lougher (Honda CBR1000) 55m 22.7s 122.63 mph
5. Adrian Archibald (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 55m 49.5s 121.65 mph
6, Richard Britton (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 56m 24.5s 120.39 mph
7. Mark Parrett (Yamaha YZF-R1) 56m 32.8s 120.10 mph
8. Gary Carswell (Yamaha YZF-R1) 56m 57.8s 119.22 mph
9. Ian Armstrong (Yamaha YZF-R1) 57m 22.2s 118.37 mph
10. Nigel Davies (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 57m 46.9s 117.53 mph
Lap Record: Bruce Anstey (TAS Suzuki) 18m 05.7s – 125.10 mph.
Race Record: Bruce Anstey (TAS Suzuki) 54m 53.5s – 123.72 mph
AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike Championship, points after 10 of 18 rounds:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 329
2. Miguel Duhamel (Honda CBR1000) 319
3. Jake Zemke (Honda CBR1000) 311
4. Eric Bostrom (Ducati 999R) 235
5. Geoff May (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 220
6. Ben Bostrom (Honda CBR1000) 184
7. John Hanner (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 183
8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 165
9. Eric Wood (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 161
10. Lee Acree (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 156
British Superbike Championship, points after 6 of 13 rounds:
1. JOHN REYNOLDS (SUZUKI GSX-R1000) 227
2. Michael Rutter (Honda CBR1000) 219
3. Scott Smart (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 153
4. Yukioi KAGAYAMA (SUZUKI GSX-R1000) 152
5. Sean Emmett (Ducati 999R) 146
6. Dean Thomas (Ducati 998R) 95
7. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda CBR1000) 87
8. Glen Richards (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 78
9. Tommy Hill (Yamaha YZF-R1) 71
10. Gary Mason (Yamaha YZF-R1) 58
World Endurance Championship points, after 3 of 8 rounds:
1. Yamaha GMT94 (Yamaha YZF-R1) 75
2. Suzuki Castrol (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 73
3. Endurance Moto 38 (Yamaha YZF-R1) 56
4. Yamaha Austraia Racing Team (Yamaha YZF-R1) 31
5. Kawasaki Bolliger (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 30
6. JET Team (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 30
7. WRT-Honda Austria (Honda CBR1000) 28
8. Shell Endurance Academy (Yamaha YZF-R1) 23
9. Diablo 666 Bolliger (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 21
10. Zongshen Suzuki (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 20
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Pro Open
1 Darryll King Yamaha 137 (3 wins)
2 Shayne King Honda 117 (2 wins)
3 Cheyne Boyd KTM 109
4 Jay Marmont KTM 89
5= Lee Ellis Honda 87
Danny Ham Suzuki 87
7 Troy Carroll Yamaha 79
8 Corrie Sargeant Honda 74 (1 win)
9 Mick Cook Kawasaki 64
10 Shane Metcalfe Honda 62
Pro Lites
1 Cody Cooper Honda 145 (5 wins)
2 Cameron Taylor Yamaha 123 (1 win)
3 Troy Dorron Honda 100
4 Daniel McCoy Yamaha 94
5 Daniel Reardon Kawasaki 74
6 Jye Harvey Honda 69
7 Adam Cini Yamaha 68
8 Mitch Hoad Suzuki 58
9 Barry Morris Honda 52
10 Warren Smart Honda 48
2003 Gilman results (overall)
Pro Open
1 Shane Metcalfe Honda
2 Darryll King Yamaha
3 Shayne King Honda
4 Mick Cook Yamaha
5 Paul Broomfield Yamaha
Pro Lites
1 Troy Carroll Yamaha
2 Troy Dorron Honda
3 Daniel McCoy Yamaha
4 Mitch Hoad Suzuki
5 Jye Harvey Honda
Mark Fattore
Media Manager
Motorcycling Australia
