Another glorious day
on the Isle of Man meant that conditions
were again perfect for the penultimate
qualifying session for the 2010 TT Races
fuelled by Monster Energy.
In a break in
tradition, it was the sidecar crews who
got to tackle the Mountain Course first.
This was done not only to give the three
wheel brigade some extended track time
but also to allow the solo competitors
an opportunity to test out the new pit
lane speed limit, which has been
introduced this year to replace the
‘stop box’ system that has been used in
previous years to control pit lane
speeds.
However, early
road traffic accidents on the Mountain
section meant there was a delay to
proceedings and it wasn’t until 6.45pm
that the action got underway. Course
conditions were described as dry and
clear with the drivers being warned of
strong sun from Union Mills to
Ballacraine whilst the distinct lack of
breeze meant that flies, as with
Wednesday’s session, were again going to
be a major problem.
Dave Molyneux and
Patrick Farrance were the first
combination to set off and they were
followed in quick succession by Klaus
Klaffenbock/Dan Sayle, Simon Neary/Paul
Knapton - who’d swapped engines after
problems on Wednesday, Conrad
Harrison/Kerry Williams and Tim Reeves/Dipash
Chauhan. Gary Bryan, Roy Hanks and Tony
Elmer were the next to go with John
Holden and Andy Winkle leaving the line
slightly further back than where they’d
been in previous sessions.
Neary was the
quickest through the Sulby speedtrap at
145mph but, as expected, Molyneux was
the first to complete the lap at
114.545mph with Klaffenbock and Neary in
hot pursuit at 113.377mph and 113.172mph
respectively. Harrison lapped at
111.487mph with Reeves and Bryan also
above 110mph but Brian Kelly/Dickie Gale
were early retirements as were Gordon
Shand/Stuart Graham. Elmer wasn’t far
off at 109.67mph with Holden just above
the 111mph mark.
Holden pulled in
to change the rear tyre whilst Neary
also stopped at the pits to make
adjustments before rejoining but
Molyneux continued and improved second
time around to 115.464mph as did
Klaffenbock, the Austrian going quicker
than ever before at 114.096mph. Harrison
was close to 112mph whilst Reeves, Hanks
and Elmer were also above 110mph, the
last named breaking the 110mph mark for
the first time.
The chairs’
session came to an end at 7.40pm and 13
minutes later it was the turn of the
solos for their unusually short session,
the riders again warned to give
considerable care to the bright evening,
and setting, sun. Bruce Anstey and John
McGuinness set off towards Bray Hill
first, the duo both Superbike mounted
and the first group were in numerical
order with Ian Lougher, Ian Hutchinson,
Keith Amor, Cameron Donald, Guy Martin,
Adrian Archibald, Conor Cummins and Gary
Johnson away next. Nearly all of the
leading competitors were on the
Superbikes with the exception of Dan
Stewart and William Dunlop who opted for
their Supersport machines.
Donald pulled off
the circuit early and came round the
back roads before going back out again
but it was Hutchinson who completed a
lap first at 128.303mph. However, Amor
was the fastest on the opening lap at
128.691mph with both Anstey and
McGuinness surprisingly off the pace at
121.166mph and 119.827mph respectively.
Archibald and Martin were down in the
123mph bracket with Farquhar and Michael
Dunlop also lapping above 125mph.
On the second lap,
Hutchinson was really flying – and it
showed. He crossed the line to record a
lap of 130.165mph, his first ever
130mph+ lap, with Cummins and Donald
flying at 128.838mph and 128.836mph.
Rutter and Dunlop were also upping their
pace, setting personal best laps of
127.564mph and 127.946mph, comfortably
his best ever speed. Mark Buckley and
Steve Mercer, one of the leading
newcomers last year, showed they could
well be the men to catch in the race for
the Privateer’s Championship with laps
of 124mph+.
Many of the
leading contenders switched to their
600cc bikes for the second half of the
session and it was Amor who went
quickest, the Scotsman lapping at
124.797mph on the Kojak Racing Honda.
Hutchinson wasn’t too far behind at
124.685mph with Martin third at
123.902mph.
David Johnson was
again the leading newcomer with a fine
lap of 118.607mph, Stephen Thompson
following closely at 117.387mph. Swiss
ace Herve Ganther was third fastest with
115.210mph whilst Brian McCormack
bounced back from his spill the previous
night to lap at 114.326 just behind
James Hurrell’s speed of 114.510. In the
600cc division, Dan Cooper improved to
113.740mph and David Jones posted his
first 110mph+ lap at 111.154mph.
Sidecar team Nigel
Mayers and Joseph Shardlow were involved
in an incident at Kates Cottage. Mayers
was unhurt but Shardlow was taken by
airmed to hospital.