James Hillier's hopes of a maiden Superbike TT victory were thwarted on Saturday when brake problems from the end of the first lap onwards ended his challenge.

The Quattro Plant Muc-Off Kawasaki rider led at Glen Helen on the opening lap but despite completing the lap at 130.092mph, he was forced to ease the pace and slipped back to ninth at the end of the six laps.

"I couldn't have wished for a better start and the first sector was brilliant but three quarters of the way round the lap, the brakes began to fade a bit. I'd caught John McGuinness by Ramsey, which showed how well everything was going, but I had to start adjusting the brakes as sometimes the lever was coming back to the bar and others it was going that far out I could barely reach it."

"Under the really heavy braking sections, it was really difficult and I ended up going down the straights checking to see if the brake was working which is far from ideal to say the least. The bike felt really good up until that point but after that the race became a bit of a blur."