Headlines
Dunlop, Evans and McGuinness up the ante.
Headlines
Friday afternoon gave the riders perfect conditions as the sixth and final MGP and third Classic TT sessions took place. The format was the same as for Thursday evening; just the timescale was longer. Julian Trummer had the honour of being first man away; but in a recurring theme it was Nathan Harrison on the Greenall Racing ZXR750 who was first to reach the day’s vantage; today’s being Milntown Bridge. He gave us an impressive leap before sweeping past the high stone wall of Milntown House; the ancestral home of Fletcher Christian (he of HMS Bounty fame). Next was Jamie Coward on another Greenall machine; he was rapid and clearly none the worse for sliding off last night due to a brake issue. After Trummer, we had Mikey Evans on his Good With Wood GSXR 750. The Mistral twins, Davo Johnson and Paul Jordan, were in close company on their XRs. Ian Hutchinson has gone largely unnoticed this week, but he was one of the standout riders today.
Jamie Williams was the first MGP Supersport / Senior rider to reach us; he was most impressive. Michael Mace was next; then we had Adrian Harrison and Daniel Forbes in close company. The action was excellent for the few spectators who gathered to view at a location that is like Ballaugh on steroids. Amongst them was former rider Donal Hughes; he was looking in rude health and enjoying the action. There were no moments of concern at Milntown in this part of the session, it simply flew past and then it was time for the Classic Senior, Junior and Lightweights to show their mettle. A reliable source has advised that Graham McAleese did some off piste trials riding at the Gooseneck; he may have escaped with just a single.
John McGuinness was first away in part 2 on his Winfield Paton. By Milntown, Michael Dunlop led by a considerable margin on his Honda RS 250; it sounded lovely and crisp as it charged past. Unsurprisingly, Michael set the best lap of the week in the Lightweight class. McGuinness had some air under the Paton as he took the bridge. He took until well down the straight towards Schoolhouse before clicking into 6th. A little later, Ian Lougher on a similar machine was in top just after he had started on the straight. McGuinness mentioned later that his gearing was not ideal. Despite this, John’s lap was best of the week in the Senior Classic. The sound of the big singles was great as they passed between the walls. Joe Yeardsley was noted as being rapid; the clocks later showed that he had upped his personal best on the Flitwick Enfield. Conor Cummins’ problems continued; he came past us with smoke pouring out of the machine. He pulled off the track at the first junction he reached at Bircham Avenue. Lack of adhesion flags were then shown from Churchtown to Bircham Avenue for the remainder of the session. The session was much quieter than expected; perhaps those qualified already did not want to overwork fragile engines, Late in the session Mikey Evans; already leader of the Junior speed charts; raised his best speed despite the Rutter Honda having a slight misfire on the mountain section.
The best speeds for the session were:
MGP Supersport / Senior – Jamie Williams 119.444mph; Don Gilbert 118.972mph; Toby Shann 118.559mph
MGP Supertwin / Junior – Lewis Arrowsmith 113.793mph; Michael Gahan 113.503mph; Andrew Farrell 113.406mph
Classic F1 (Superbike) – Jamie Coward 126.245mph; Ian Hutchinson 124.670mph; Dominic Herbertson 124.248mph
Classic Senior – John McGuinness 112.167mph; Joe Yeardsley 109.002mph; Ian Lougher 107.242mph
Classic Junior – Mikey Evans 104.760mph; Paul Jordan 103.218mph; Jamie Coward 102.919mph
Classic Lightweight – Michael Dunlop 116.491mph; Michael Sweeney 113.115mph; Stuart Hall 112.079mph.
Saturday will have the Supertwin (3laps) and Supersport (4 laps) MGP Races. These will be followed by more qualifying for the Classic TT classes.