Ten Minutes With... Dean Harrison

- Pretty Boy

If you were lucky enough to catch any of the Isle of Man TT racing, you’ll have seen that Silicone Engineering’s Dean Harrison has upped his game to an incredible level, concreting himself as a genuine contender in each of the classes he’s entered, whether that be Superbike, Supersport or Superstock. With some blistering competition though it was never going to be easy getting on the box, and after he won his first TT in four years, we elbowed everyone else aside and sat down with the laidback lad from Bradford to see what makes him tick, what he thinks of his rivals and what went through his head as he nailed the first 134mph+ lap of the island...

How hard are you pushing?

Incredibly hard! We’ve been knocking on the door all week and we’ve had good pace on each of the bikes. Problem is, there’s just two other people who have got really good pace which makes life really difficult! But Jesus Christ, what more can we do, apart from win? We’re doing as much as we can. It’s not like you’re at 99%: I really am trying my best to be honest, but everyone is, and it shows in the pace. We’re egging each other on which is always the way and it’s getting closer to the limit!

What’s it like heading down Bray Hill?

It’s pretty incredible to watch, but you’re just focussed on the job in hand and it’s something you get used to. It’s always an important thing to go from the off and a lot of people ask how you can go that quick, well, so quickly. The thing is you get used to it in a way, and the way I think about it is, what’s the difference between heading down Bray Hill and going into Coppice [turn one] at Cadwell? Well, besides a warm-up lap, but the BSB boys are all on it on the warm-up lap anyway so it doesn’t matter – you just have to twist the grip and go with the flow.