2015 Isle of Man TT: Bennetts Lightweight TT Results

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

The 2015 Isle of Man TT has a first-time winner, with Ivan Lintin taking the Lightweight TT with an average speed of 118.936 mph.

Lintin, who made his Isle of Man TT debut in 2011, previously had a career-best finish of fourth place in the 2013 Lightweight TT before beating one of the favorites, James Hillier, by nearly four seconds.

Hillier led in the early going, continuing a pattern of strong starts from other races this week. Hillier was fastest to reach the Glen Helen checkpoint but Lintin was just 1.5 seconds behind. Lintin took over the lead before reaching the Ramsey Hairpin with Hillier dropping to third behind Ryan Farquhar.

Michael Rutter broke up the parade of Ninja 650s, finishing on the podium riding a Paton S1. Photo by Dave Kneen at Pacemaker Press International.

Lintin was the only rider to top 119 mph on the opening lap, but Farquhar was just a bit slower followed by teammate Lee Johnston. Hillier wasn’t much further behind them. The riders then headed to refuel but Farquhar made the mistake of speeding in pit lane and was assessed a 30-second penalty.

The pit stops and the penalty shook up the leader board. Jamie Hamilton, another pre-race favorite, had gotten off to a poor start and made a strategic decision not to enter the pits after the first lap. The decision gave him a three-second lead in front of Lintin at Glen Helen.

As he did on Lap 1, Lintin gained the lead before reaching Ramsey and finished the second lap with a nearly-four-second lead over Hillier followed by Lee Johnston and Hamilton in fourth. Hamilton then decided to refuel, dropping him further back of Lintin.

James Hillier broke his own Lightweight TT lap record but had to settle for second. Photo by www.davekneale.com.

Lintin was first to Glen Helen on the third and final lap, but Hillier was only 3.2 seconds behind. The two racers continued to press on the final lap, with both smashing Hillier’s own Lightweight TT lap record. Hillier average speed of 120.848 mph set the new mark but Lintin wasn’t much slower at 120.845 mph.

From left, James Hillier, Ivan Lintin and Michael Rutter. Photo by Stephen Davison at Pacemaker Press International.

Third place went to Michael Rutter riding the Paton S1. The S1 is a rare machine in a lightweight Twins class dominated by Kawasaki Ninja 650s, though it is powered by the same engine.

2015 Isle of Man TT: Lightweight TT Race 2 Top Six Results

Pos.

RiderMachine/TeamTimeSpeed

1

Ivan LintinKawasaki RC Express57:06.070118.936 mph

2

James HillierKawasaki Quattro57:09.945118.802 mph

3

Michael RutterPaton57:43.318117.657mph

4

James CowtonKawasaki Stewart Smith58:05.032116.924 mph

5

Jamie HamiltonKawasaki Cookstown Burrows58:15.457116.924 mph

6

Daniel CooperKawasaki SB Tuning58:19.594116.438 mph
Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

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