Final practice
for the Isle of Man TT Races was seriously affected by an incident in
the Black Dub section of the course when three riders crashed resulting
in a roadside hedge catching fire. The session, held in glorious
conditions, had only been underway for a matter of minutes when the red
flag was brought out at the Grandstand after Michael Weynand crashed
heavily also bringing down Victor Gilmore and Jim Hodson, fortunately
without serious injury to the three riders.
The Belgian rider, who had been in scintillating form during the week,
suffered heavy bruising to his ankles and feet whilst Gilmore suffered
shoulder injuries. Hodson was unscathed.
With the fire brigade called out to deal with the fire and a road
sweeper summoned to sweep the track, the session was halted for almost
an hour and when it did resume solo riders were only able to complete
one lap, seriously affecting the plans of some who would have been
hoping to use the session to make some final, pre-race adjustments.
Riders in the numbers 1-30 bracket were able to complete their lap at a
reasonable speed but one man who didn’t was Guy Martin who only got as
far as the Hawthorn before coasting to a halt. With the session
re-starting, the first pairing away were Martin Finnegan and Michael
Rutter but it was Ian Hutchinson who set the pace with a fine lap of
127.049mph, followed by Bruce Anstey at 126.017mph and Ryan Farquhar at
124.317mph. Martin Finnegan (124.206), Adrian Archibald (124.201) and
Michael Rutter (124.114) completed the top six.
Practice pace setter John McGuinness opted to take his Supersport
machine out and the move paid dividends as he posted the best 600cc lap
of the night at 122.423mph. He was followed by Shaun Harris, who
recorded his first 120mph lap of the week at 120.560mph, and Conor
Cummins who posted a lap of118.500mph.
In the Superstock Hutchinson again set the pace being one of the riders
to record two lap speeds, and he recorded a speed of 125.570mph.
Finnegan, who must be a serious contender for honours on his MV Agusta,
was again high on the leaderboard at 124.325mph closely followed by
Archibald at 123.963mph. James McBride, who has been posting some
impressive times throughout the week, lapped at 121.904mph ahead of Paul
Hunt (121.158) and Nigel Beattie (121.094). Meanwhile, Gary Johnson
almost joined his fellow Lincolnshire newcomer Steve Plater in lapping
at more than 120mph with an excellent speed of 119.810mph.
The sidecars managed to get in two laps in their shortened session but
Dave Molyneux and Rick Long finally showed something like their usual
form and a lap of 112.778mph not only placed them top of the nights
session but will also have restored some confidence going in to
tomorrow’s race. John Holden and Andrew Winkle continued their fine form
with a lap of 111.235mph, their best ever lap, whilst Steve Norbury and
Scott Parnell also got themselves back into contention with a lap of
110.191. Allan Schofield and Peter Founds have been in the top five all
week and the Lancashire driver recorded his first ever 110mph lap with a
speed of 110.167mph. Greg Lambert and Gary Partridge, another pairing to
suffer reliability issues this week, put in a fine performance with a
lap of 108.506mph.
The scene is now set for the opening day of racing with the 6-lap
Bennetts TT Superbike race getting underway at 12pm, followed by the
3-lap Bavaria Sidecar race at 3pm.
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