For the third evening
in a row, conditions all around the Isle
of Man were perfect which meant that it
was another ideal night of practice for
the 2010 TT races fuelled by Monster
Energy, the final session before
Saturday’s opening race day. It was the
last chance for competitors to make
further adjustments to their machinery
in preparation for the 6-lap Superbike
race whilst the sidecars were also out
in force, preparing for their first
3-lap race on Saturday afternoon.
As happened in
Thursday’s qualifying, the sidecars were
first out on the course and they were
greeted with an information board saying
simply ‘dry roads, clear weather’. At
6.30pm, it was John Holden/Andy Winkle
who left the line first followed by
Klaus Klaffenbock/Dan Sayle, Simon Neary/Paul
Knapton, Conrad Harrison/Kerry Williams
and Gary Bryan/Gary Partridge. Dave
Molyneux/Patrick Farrance set off
mid-pack with Tim Reeves/Dipash Chauhan
further back although they were later
reported as having stopped at Parliament
Square where they were making
adjustments. This also applied to Keith
Walters/Alun Thomas and Brian Alflatt/Herve
Chenu who had both pulled in at the
Highlander.
Klaffenbock and
Holden crossed the line almost together,
lapping at 113.508mph and 112.55mph
respectively with Neary sandwiching the
pair on speed at 113.058mph. Harrison
was the only other driver above 110mph
with speeds generally down on previous
evenings as the crews used the session
to bed in engines and scrub in tyres
prior to the race. Holden improved to
113.24mph second time around, to go
third fastest for the week, and was one
of only a handful of competitors to
complete two laps.
The chairs had a
slightly shorter session tonight and the
solos were underway at 7.20pm, getting a
full hour and a half thus meaning four
laps, at least, could be completed by
the majority of the field. The riders
again set off in numerical order so,
once again, it was Bruce Anstey who
blasted off first, this time alongside
Ian Lougher with Ian Hutchinson, Keith
Amor, Cameron Donald, Guy Martin, Adrian
Archibald, Conor Cummins and Gary
Johnson following them. John McGuinness
set off in the fifth pairing on his 600,
leaving his Superbike in the garage
during the session.
Anstey was
reported stopped at Sulby Bridge before
proceeding whilst Guy Martin pulled off
the course at Ballacraine (not getting
back out again until 8.30pm) and Carl
Rennie at Parliament Square but
Hutchinson was again flying and his
opening lap was 130.234mph, just shy of
McGuinness’ lap on Wednesday evening.
Cummins lapped at 129.405mph on his
Superbike with Amor putting in a fine
lap on his BMW Superstock machine at
128.156mph, the bike only 4mph down on
Hutchinson’s Superbike through the Sulby
speed trap. James Edmeades and the KTM
were also having a good evening with
their first ever 120mph+ lap, Senior
Manx Grand Prix winner Michael Russell
also recorded the benchmark average
speed for the first time..
Hutchinson went
even quicker on his second lap at
130.614mph to move to the top of the
Superbike qualifying leaderboard and win
the Graham watch for the fastest rider
of the week whilst Amor did likewise on
the Superstock BMW at 128.229mph.
Meanwhile, the Dunlop brothers were
setting the pace on their 600s, Michael
getting close to the class lap record at
126.39mph with older brother William
moving in to the top six at 123.621mph,
just behind McGuinness at 123.750mph.
Meanwhile, Donald was again close to
129mph on his Superbike machine.
Dunlop then went
quickest in the Superstock class also at
128.324mph, another personal best,
whilst Amor switched to the HM Plant
Honda Superbike lapping at 128.48mph
with Hutchinson and McGuinness above
125mph, having gone back out on their
Superstock machines. Just like Thursday,
the majority of speeds dropped off as
the session wore on, a combination of
traffic out on the course and the
dropping temperatures, but Archibald did
129.372mph and Dunlop 128.792mph, both
on their Superbikes and both personal
best laps ever. Martin eventually got
back out and did two laps on his
Superbike, the best at 128.240mph
The newcomers were
again in fine form with Stephen Thompson
lapping at 117.456mph, Herve Ganther
115.481mph and Hudson Kennaugh getting
above 110mph for the first time at
112.976mph. Anthony Czyzewski and
Clinton Pienaar also posted their best
laps of the week in excess of 112mph. In
the 600cc division, David Johnson
recorded 115.552mph, Dan Cooper improved
to 114.481mph with David Jones and
Brandon Cretu not too far behind at
111.931mph and 111.128mph. Gary May also
posted his first 110mph+ lap.