There was early disappointment that six-times TT winner’s poor fortune at the MGP continued when he retired the Davies Motorsport Honda with mechanical trouble at Lambfell on the opening lap.

But Richardson had taken the early lead and averaged 102.27mph to head Chris McGahan by 7.36 seconds. Third was Oversby making it an all-Honda top three. Fourth was Derek Whalley (Aermacchi) but he promptly slid off at Braddan, letting in Tony Cawte (Honda) who had lost a lot of time at the start as his John Turner-sponsored machine proved reluctant to chime in. Evergreen John Goodall (AJS) moved to fifth at Whalley’s expense, and into the top six came Dave Madsen-Mygdal (Honda).

In the Lightweight class, where Suzuki T20s rule, Ewan Hamilton was the early leader but retired at the Bungalow with mechanical trouble. Geoff McMullan accepted the place with gratitude, lapping at 96.104mph. Second was Peter Walkefield and third Roy Richardson’s father Peter.

Oversby’s poor MGP luck continued with retirement at Ballaugh on lap two, making the top three at that point Roy Richardson, McGahan and Cawte, who was obviously inspired by trying to atone for his earlier loss of time. Goodall, Madsen-Mygdal and Graham Taubman were the second three of the leaderboard.

At the half-distance mark Roy Richardson led the Junior by 46.85 seconds, his advantage reflected in his slower lap speed of 101.71mph and a two-lap race average of 101.991mph. Third was Cawte, but 58.83 seconds behind McGahan with little real hope of catching him in the final two laps.

Fourth was Goodall, fifth Madsen-Mygdal and sixth Graham Taubman repelling three-times TT winner Ryan Farquhar!

The Lightweight continued to be led by McMullan, with Wakefield and Smith second and third respectively. Fourth was Peter Richardson, fifth David Smith and sixth Jim Weeks. McMullan’s lead was severely cut when his bike declined to re-start after his refuelling stop. It eventually fired up at the bottom of the pits but around 30 seconds was lost. Good job he had plenty in hand. At Glen Helen on lap three he still led by 56 seconds.

Madsen-Mygdal went out at Ramsey on lap three and McGahan was reported touring at the Bungalow with suspect ignition. Hope for Cawte after all. He took away some of Richardson’s lead by going non-stop where Richardson elected to “splash-and-dash” a quick petrol top-up. Up to third went Goodall, fourth Taubman, fifth Farquhar and sixth Bob Price.

Richardson won at a race average of 99.427mph, beating Cawte by 45.19seconds, with Goodall taking his second third place of the week. McMullan duly won the Lightweight at 93.786mph by 29.43seconds over Wakefield. Stephen Smith, who had run third, retired at Hillberry - two miles from the finish, elevating Peter Richardson to third and thereby placing father-and-son on the rostrums in the same event.