The 23-year-old Manxman Cummins, on only his third visit, chased down a six second deficit behind leader Stuart Easton and going into the penultimate lap, Cummins hit the front but despite a frenetic last lap battle, it was Easton who held on for victory by a third of a second after 15 laps of the 6.12km Circuito Da Guia.

Yorkshireman Hutchinson brought the second of the works PBM Kawasakis home in third place after seeing off a challenge from Gary Johnson to give the PBM team cause for further celebration, especially as Easton is also personally sponsored by team owner Paul Bird!

Cummins said at the finish line: 'There was some confusion at the start of the race and by the time I got going, I'd been held up which had allowed Stuart to build a big lead but little by little, I reeled him in and took the lead going into Fishermans on the last lap but one.

'I thought I could hold him off but Stuart has a lot of experience around here and I got a bad run through the backmarkers so he got by me again but I'm happy enough with second place.

'The bike has been great and the team is fantastic and I'm delighted with the result.'

More details in next week's Isle of Man Examiner and Manx Independent

Results
1, Stuart EASTON - GBR - Hydrex IGT Honda - 36:50.910
2, Conor CUMMINS - IOM - PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team - 36:51.291
3, Ian HUTCHINSON - GBR - PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team - 37:00.702
4, Gary JOHNSON - GBR - AIM Racing - 37:06.508
5, Rico PENZKOFER - GER - BMW Macau Racing Team - 37:15.519
6, Michael RUTTER - GBR - Team of Paris - AXA Racing - 37:22.761
7, Simon ANDREWS - GBR - Team of Paris - AXA Racing - 37:25.237
8, Luis CARREIRA - POR - Benimoto Suzuki Cetelem - 37:26.117
9, Jeremy TOYE - USA - Lee's Cycles Racing - 37:26.403
10, Stephen THOMPSON - GBR - Robinson Concrete Honda - 37:34.767