Scarborough: Respectable comeback for Davey Todd, Dean Harrison takes the honours

A number of road racing stars were keen not to miss the 80th anniversary of the Gold Cup Meeting in Scarborough. Alongside multiple Tourist Trophy winners Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison, Classic TT winners Shaun Anderson, Rob Hodson and Mike Browne, and four-time Manx Grand Prix winner Johnny Stewart, Davey Todd – who had been one of the dominant figures in road racing the previous year – had also entered the race.

For the 30-year-old Briton, this was his first race since his fateful crash during practice for the Daytona 200, in which he sustained, amongst other things, severe leg injuries. At both the North West 200 and the Tourist Trophy, the race doctors refused to clear him to race. At England’s only road race on Oliver’s Mount, he passed the fitness test with flying colours.

In the first Supersport class race – the 3.911-kilometre circuit, featuring two tight hairpin bends, was deemed no longer suitable for Superbike motorcycles – Todd finished in ninth place, below expectations. After that, he found his rhythm much better and delivered some thoroughly respectable results with three fifth-place finishes. In the main race, the ‘Visit North Yorkshire Gold Cup’, however, he did not see the chequered flag.

Dean Harrison proved to be the big winner of the event. The Briton, who triumphed twice at this year’s Tourist Trophy, not only won all four Supersport races, but the Honda works rider also claimed the Gold Cup in convincing fashion ahead of Browne, Hickman, Hodson and Stewart. Harrison, who had not raced at Scarborough since 2023, now has an incredible 116 victories on this circuit.

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