Ice Valley BMW's Simon Andrews astounded the Isle of Man TT paddock with his performance in the Senior race for two reasons. Firstly, the Evesham man, who ditched his wally bib, had never taken part in the blue riband race and, secondly, he did it on a Superstock bike.

Andrews is still coming to terms with losing his factory MSS Kawasaki BSB ride while racing for the PR Kawasaki team in the Evo championship where he is currently fifth but after a setup run at the Northwest 200, Andrews caused a stir on his TT debut.

After the initial runs round, he went through the 100mph lap barrier with some ease and then came close to to 120mph before his first race, the Superbike, ended at Quarterbride on the first lap. The Superstock race went better with Andrews getting a replica for his 11th place and a 122.189mph race average. The Senior came and he replicated the finish but upped his pace to 125.174mph.

"I was pretty pleased with it. I got my replica, which is shiny, and now I'm sleeping in my RV by the side of Lake Windermere on the way up to Knockhill. It could be worse, I could be strapped into some awful service station somewhere," said Andrews, when he finally calls back bikesportnews.com after three days.

"The Senior was awesome really, as was the last lap, especially as I was doing it on Superstock bike which kept running out of fuel on the second lap after a fuel stop. And I had no pitboards either so I had no idea how fast I was going.

"It wasn't until I got down to the Creg and past I had any idea I may have been going well as the crowd were cheering and clapping. It was qute relaxed. I know which corners I need to improve and which I have got dialled.

"It's places like Ginger Hall, Greeba Castle and Ballacrye I need more work on. They're fast corners leading onto fast straights, so they need some more work but the slower stuff I have got nailed. I've also had a lot of calls about Macau since Friday…"