05/06/2026
On this Day.....
5th June 1978.
Tom wins the Senior TT....for the second time.
It's 11am on a sunny mid-summer's morning on the Isle of Man, and Tom Herron is about to propel his RG500 Suzuki down Bray Hill and an appointment with the top step of the Senior TT podium.
Tom knew the race was going to be quick, Pat Hennen had unofficially lapped in practice in under 20 minutes, and he was also aware that the Suzuki GB team were only planning one fuel stop and therefore Tom could really only afford to stop once as well.
So Herron decided to weld a few extra inches on to the fuel tank of his bike and he also borrowed fellow racer John Newbold's seat tank, two moves that would give him the extra vital litres of fuel that could make all the difference between success and failure.
Second quickest in practice, Tom started at Number 8 and at Ballacraine on the first lap it was John Williams who led by three seconds from Tom with practice sensation Pat Hennen in third.
At Ramsey however, the American led on the road but Tom was right there also, and was clearly the race leader.
At the end of the opening lap, the race order was Herron by 8.8 seconds from Williams and Hennen with Joey Dunlop a retirement. Hailwood was having handling issues with his Yamaha and stopped at Ramsey on the second lap to inspect the steering damper, he re-started but a lengthy pit stop at the end of the lap put him right down the leaderboard.
Williams upped the lap record on the second lap to 112.57mph, but Tom bettered this by raising it to 113.02mph on the third lap, and on lap four Williams was out of the race as his Suzuki's water hose broke as he hurtled up the Cronk-y-Voddy straight at almost 180mph.
Meanwhile the battle on the road, and for the overall race lead, raged on between Herron and Hennen.
Pat was tucked in behind Tom as they sped over the tram lines at the Bungalow and as they went up the road to the Brandywell the American passed the Ulsterman.
The two came round Signpost together, although Tom was by this stage 20 seconds to the good but Hennen, the only top rider to have started on slicks, was creating his own piece of history as he crossed the line at the end of the fifth lap to become the first rider to officially break the 20 minute lap barrier.
With one lap to go however his chances of winning were almost impossible, and it would take a disaster to befall Herron for Hennen to have any chance, and sadly it was Pat's own race that ended in disaster.
As he chased Herron through Bishopscourt, the ultra-fast section between Kirk Michael and Ballaugh, and with Tom gesturing to him to slow down, he clipped the roadside with his rear wheel and lost control of his factory Suzuki and went down heavily.
Takazumi Katayama running in 15th place sportingly stopped to assist the stricken rider until he could be flown to hospital with serious head injuries.
Unaware of the drama behind Tom crossed the line to win his third TT, the first Senior TT to be held on a Monday, by 5 minutes 28 seconds from fellow countryman Billy Guthrie, who had expected rain and as a result had a few big moments from his intermediate rear tyre but claimed £600 for his troubles, with Chas Mortimer claiming the final podium spot, £300, and with it the distinction of being the first 350cc rider home.
It had been a flawless ride from Herron who also raised the race record to 111.74mph on his way to claiming the £2500 winners cheque.
Speaking afterwards Tom commented:
"Talk about a change in fortunes!!
The Senior win has gone a long way to wiping out the disappointments of the Grand Prix season to date, but at the start of the race I thought I'd never pull it off.
As I pushed from the line the bike was on two cylinders, then she chimed into three but as I chugged it past the pit-counters I really didn't think I'd get in front as early as I did.
I knew that barring breakdowns I'd got the race in the bag on the first lap at Ramsey when I caught John Williams, I really didn't expect to get to him that quickly.
If you'd asked me during practice what my chances were I probably would have told you that I didn't want to know - and with a broken Suzuki engine and practice slipping by - who could have blamed me.
We were just warming the bike up and it went bang and I had to fork out for a new engine and once again that man Bill Smith just happened to have one with him so it really helped me out of a spot.
From that you'll understand that my two mechanics Peter Kelly and Wes Pratt have been flat out on the bike to get it ready for the race. It wasn't unti 3 o'clock on race day morning that we finished it but it was well worth it. It wasn't the race it should have been and it could have been so good if John, Mike Hailwood and Pat Hennen had all kept going.
But I'm not complaining and I was always in control of my situation around the course.
In fact, I think I must have known more than the commentators about the way the race was going.
I had five signallers, including my wife Andrea at Ballaugh, all around the track, and knew exactly what the score was.
During the early laps when John was right with me, it was quite difficult to gauge the race, we were both trying hard, but at the same time trying to use as few revs as possible to save the engines.
On the final lap I was waving to the crowd as I came over the mountain.
This wasn't because I was being big-headed - I just thought that if I broke down I wouldn't get the chance to wave to the crowd and so I was making sure I got my money's worth!
During those closing miles before Pat Hennen crashed I nodded over to him on several occasions to intimate that there was no way he could pull out the required number of seconds on me to win, he must have been trying hard and when he went down he was only a few yards behind my back wheel."
Photo: Tom celebrates his 1978 Senior TT win, with his mechanic Peter Kelly at his left shoulder.
📷- Chris Perkins.
With Kind Permission
