The weather relented briefly to allow this afternoon’s contingency practice session to be run. The wind was fairly strong; especially on the mountain; the sun was in evidence through the gaps in the cloud cover. The roads were dry, or close to it, over most of the course, apart from the usual suspects such as Glen Helen, Bishopscourt, Hairpin to Waterworks and at the 27th Milestone. These areas were well flagged by the orange army of volunteer marshals, without whom there would be no Manx Grand Prix.
The batting was order was changed to allow the lower powered Classic and Lightweight machines the first session. The riders had been warned by Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson that they had to take no risks on the far from ideal road surface. This afternoon it was more about laps under the belt, rather than speeds on the board. The riders were cautious on the first lap and then began to increase the pace as the track continued to dry. Jamie Coward (Craven Manx) was first rider to leave the grandstand; but by Sulby Bridge he had been overhauled by Ian Lougher on the LayLaw Yamaha. John McGuinness, Mike Browne and Adam McLean were amongst the front runners on their Senior Classic mounts; whilst Lee Johnston was on board his Lightweight, Reed Honda. Mikey Evans was out on the Atherstone / Faraldo 250cc KTM that is being raced in tribute to the late Gary Vines. Mikey is getting to grips with it and was 8th on the speed chart today. There were many retirements, most notably Michael Dunlop whose Lightweight Honda expired at the bottom of Barregarrow. Michael has yet to complete a single lap.
Most riders managed laps on each of their mounts; if they were in more than one class. Late in the session Jamie Coward put in the best lap thus far in the Junior Classic at 103.585mph, on the Craven Honda ridden by Harley Rushton at Billown in the Pre-TT Races. Paul Jordan and Adam McLean both lapped at over 99mph. The Senior Classic best lap of 109.694mph was set by Shaun Anderson on his Beugger Paton. He was rapid on Norton last year and will be looking for a podium finish this year. Jamie Coward and Mike Browne both lapped at over 107mph. Ian Lougher repeated his Sunday performance by being the best of the Lightweights at 114.317mph. Stuart Hall and Rhys Hardisty both lapped at over 111mph. Joe Yeardsley was again best of the sub-class for 400cc machines.
The second session was for the Classic Superbikes; plus, the MGP Senior and Junior machines. This session was busier and noticeably quicker; with some of the newcomers running rather wide as a consequence of missing the correct breaking point. The speeds edged higher and at the end of the session it was Mike Browne on the Key Racing Ducati 916 who had set the best lap of 122.755mph. James Hind was second on the WhizNorton at 122.519mph, with Davo Johnson third at 121.114mph on his Mistral Kawasaki. Daniel Ingham was again best in the Senior MGP class at 116.997mph. Maurizio Bottalico was second at 114.902mph; with Michael Gahan third at 113.676mph. The form book continued to be followed in the Junior MGP in which Andrea Majola was again the quickest at 114.100mph; countryman Maurizio Bottalico was second at 113.245mph. Liam Chawke was third at 109.988mph.
The weather turned earlier than had been forecast, the deluge forcing Gary Thompson to call off the scheduled evening session. Weather permitting; Friday will see two practice sessions.
