Stars come out for first Carole Nash Sportbike TT

The seeded rider list has been revealed for the first ever Carole Nash Sportbike TT races, with the event’s biggest stars, lightweight specialists and up-and-comers set to battle for honours in the two three-lap outings.

The seedings determine which order the leading riders will start the race, departing 10 seconds apart in race number order. Twenty riders are seeded ahead of the event, with the unseeded riders starting from 21^st onwards – the positions decided by qualifying times.

The system means the top riders get first pick of starting positions, giving them strategic decisions to make. Do they want clear track or someone to hunt down? Do they want to risk being held up by slower riders or do they want to set their own pace? The very top riders, like Michael Dunlop, Davey Todd and Peter Hickman generally run the same numbers every year, in all classes, while others might chop and change as they gain experience and work their way up the pecking order.

This year, the honour of heading them off down Bray Hill goes to Irishman Mike Browne. The modest farmer takes on the challenge of the number one plate, as he does in the supersport category, and switches to Paton machinery in 2026, the Italian bike which has been the benchmark in Supertwin TTs – the predeccesor to the new Sportbike class.

And just as it will be in the two supersport races, it will be Northern Ireland’s Paul Jordan who sets off second, 10 seconds behind Browne. PJ is another podium finisher in the class and remains on an Aprilia RS660 in 2026.

Third will be local ace Michael Evans, who was stripped of an emotional second in last year’s first Supertwin TT due to a technical infringement. He switches to a Yamaha R7, which was originally earmarked for seeded rider Adam McLean, whose absence means there will only be 19 seeded riders, with no rider taking up his number five.

Paton mounted Jamie Coward sets off fourth, the bearded Yorkshireman being yet another previous Supertwin podium finisher. He’ll start ahead of the odd-on favourite, Michael Dunlop. The 33-time TT winner has proved almost unstoppable in the smaller capacity classes and remains onboard the factory Paton with which he has won seven Supertwin TTs since 2018. The combo won both Supertwin TTs last year and set a new class lap record of 123.056mph. With the competition set to get hotter than ever this year, who would bet against that being stretched again in the first week of June.

Seventh seed is the ever popular Baz Furber, another Yamaha mounted man, with TT big gun Davey Todd setting off 10 seconds behind on another R7. Todd goes into the TT on the back foot after sustaining serious leg injuries at the Daytona 200 earlier in the year, but his announcement in the starting list is a real fillip for TT 2026. He’ll be starting ahead of Rob Hodson, the Englishman sticking with the Paton S1-R upon which he finished second last year.

Wearing his familiar number 10 is Peter Hickman, although some will be surprised at his choice of machinery. Hicky’s PHR Performance company was largely responsible for developing the Triumph Daytona 660 race kit, and they even run a Triumph team in the new World Sportbike Championship.

Despite this, and the fact that Hickman and team-mate Todd run race modified Triumph Street Triple 765RSs in the Supersport TTs, the duo stick with the Swan-liveried Yamahas PHR has been developing since 2023. The R7 won in that first year, albeit in a race of attrition, and has been improving year-on-year. It will be interesting to see if they can take advantage of all that investment and further close the gap to Paton this time out.

Italian class specialist Stefano Bonetti starts 11^th. The 49-year-old hillclimb champ has come agonisingly close to finishing on the podium several times and switches from Paton to Aprilia this year. Local rising star Joe Yeardsley starts behind him, the 2023 Senior Manx Grand Prix winner being another Yamaha runner.

While the first 11 bikes away are all running to the old Supertwin regulations, the new rules open up the grid to a number of three and four cylinder machines – the performance of the bikes being ‘balanced’ through electronic restrictions and weight limits to give parity on the road. It’s a formula which has worked well in short circuit racing, and all eyes will be on the TT to see if one of the three-cylinder runners can break the Paton domination.

The first man putting the ‘sportbike’ into the Sportbike TTs will be fan-favourite Dominic Herbertson. A popular podium finisher on a Paton last year, he’s the biggest name to switch to the three-cylinder Triumph. If the bike performs as many expect, he could absolutely take the fight to Dunlop and many competitors will be looking to see how competitive the machine is. If it delivers, expect to see plenty more Daytonas lining up in years to come.

There’s another triple behind him, but not a Triumph. Chinese company CF Moto provides the power for Northern Ireland’s Shaun Anderson – their 675SR-R being another debutant under the new rules.

The task of developing PHR’s Daytona 660 for the TT has been entrusted to top French rider Pierre-Yves Bian, yet another Supertwin podium runner, and indeed there’s a real international flavour among the final seeded riders.

Italy’s Andrea Majola, a Junior Manx Grand Prix winner, is 16^th away – ahead of four Aprilia RS660s. Ireland’s Micko Sweeney heads off 17^th, ahead of Czech star Michal Dokoupil, Yorkshireman Joey Thompson and South African Allan-Jon Venter, who rounds out the 20 seeded riders.

The two Sportbike TTs are scheduled to take place over three-laps, on Tuesday 2 June and Friday 5 June.

2026 Carole Nash Sportbike TT – seeded riders/start numbers

Photos: Isle of Man TT Races