PRACTICE BULLETIN 4

SENSATION! two lap records in one night – by the same rider! Morecambe’s 31-year-old John McGuinness unofficially got three-tenths of a second under the late David Jefferies’ outright TT record and for good measure took five seconds off Ryan Farquhar’s Junior record.

For the fourth night in a row, conditions were good, with dry roads for the solos. First away were John Burrows and Paddy Martin, but McGuinness obviously meant business on his 600cc Yamaha, getting fully down to it right from the line. But the idea of a good lap soon had to be put on the back burner when he had to make an early impromptu stop to zip up one of his boots. He soon set off again and claimed first place on the road when he nipped past Gary Carswell at Signpost.

Then it was time to light the blue touch paper!. The Junior Yamaha was given its head and was put round in 18 minutes 25s, an average speed of 122.92mph, which was unofficially 5.65 seconds inside Ryan Farquhar’s lap record set last year on a Kawasaki.

He then switched to the Formula One mount, which he said was going well, but needed more time on it to get its best. He would dearly love to win a big bike race, but equally wishes to repeat last year’s win in the 400. He cake-walked the North West 200 on it, so it should be achievable. The reacquaintance with the 1000 R1 didn’t take long to be given the thumbs up, and as mentioned, he unofficially broke the outright TT record at 127.34mph, a time of 17 minutes 46.7 seconds, compared with the late David Jefferies’ official mark of 127.29mph, a time of 17 minutes 47 seconds. Two lap records by one man in one night!

Richard Britton headed the 400cc Lightweight class on John Harris’s Honda, doing 20 minutes 35 seconds, 109.98mph, with Martin Finnegan (Honda) second at 105.85mph and Alex Donaldson (Kawasaki) third at 105.79mph.

Robert Dunlop again headed the 125cc class, bidding to get a win in his final TT, with four Ultra-Lightweight victories already in the bag. He did 20 minutes 38.5 seconds on the Crossan Honda, an average speed of 109.67mph. Last year’s winner Chris Palmer was second at 109.25mph and Ian Lougher third at 107.10mph.

Martin Finnegan was pleased enough with progress, except that a troublesome rear shock absorber sent back for rebuilding had proved to still contain a damping fault, thus preventing real headway on the bigger bike.

It was remarkable to see TAS Suzuki team-mates Bruce Anstey and Adrian Archibald casually hanging round the paddock throughout most of the first part of the session, calmy awaiting the five-past-seven start for the big bikes.

Archibald led away the field and rapidly knocked off two laps, with Lougher, Griffiths and Shaun Harris pulling in, the latter declining a radio interview as he swapped the ZX10 Kawasaki for a 600 gallop.

Dave Molyneux and Daniel Sayle again set off first in the sidecar class, but drops of rain were beginning to fall, and word was that if it got really wet the Honda pair would pull up and take – not Cider with Rosie – but Coffee with Rosie. That’s Rosie Sayle, licensee of the Sulby Glen Hotel who just happens to be Dan’s mother! The starting line up looked like a rehearsal for race day, as numbers two and three were next away, Ian Bell and Craig Hallam and Nick Crowe and Darran Hope. Roy Hanks and Dave Wells were hoping to continue the set at number four but were beaten to the punch by Allan Schofield and Mark Cox.

FINALLY, greetings from Australia to Slovenian rider Mirko Kalsek have been received through the Press Office. His half-sister Maria Ogilvy wishes him a good TT and wishes she was on the Island to see him in action.