Gorgeous sun and
blue sky met the competitors for
Wednesday evening’s practice session
and conditions were perfect for the
third night of the 2010 Isle of Man
TT Races. Indeed, the biggest
problem was going to be the ever
present Manx population of flies who
were again out in force!
Riders were
warned of a few damp patches at
Quarry Bends and Governor’s Bridge
but with close to ideal conditions,
it was almost inevitable that the
130mph would be broken and so it was
but, surprisingly, only by John
McGuinness on his second lap.
It was William
Dunlop and Bruce Anstey who got the
session underway promptly at 6.20pm,
the Northern Irishman on his 600cc
machine and the Kiwi on his
Superbike. Following them were John
McGuinness and Michael Dunlop, Ian
Lougher and Cameron Donald, Keith
Amor and Daniel Kneen and Adrian
Archibald and Carl Rennie, all
Superbike mounted with the exception
of Kneen who was out on his 600.
McGuinness was
the first to complete a lap at
129.265mph with Anstey and Donald
not too far behind at 127.915mph and
128.011mph respectively. Michael
Dunlop, Lougher, Amor and Archibald
were all above 126mph but Guy Martin
was close to McGuinness’ pace at
129.145mph, Ian Hutchinson also
going well at 128.018mph.
Second time
around and McGuinness really showed
his class with a lap of 130.242mph,
Hutchinson increasing his speed to
128.735mph and Archibald to
128.618mph. Martin had called in to
the pits at the end of his first lap
but got no further than Quarter
Bridge on his second before pulling
off, eventually going back out on
his Superstock bike. Davy Morgan was
also in trouble retiring at Sulby
Bridge.
McGuinness and
Hutchinson both swapped to their
600cc Supersport bikes, the latter
going second quickest on the night
with a lap just over 125mph. It was
that man Michael Dunlop who was
quickest here and he was marginally
faster than Hutchinson at
125.087mph. Meanwhile, Amor posted
an impressive time on his BMW
Superstock bike at 127.525mph.
Most of the
riders were able to get back out for
a fifth lap and Hutchinson went back
out on his Superbike recording a lap
of 129.164mph to go second quickest
on the night. Amor was close to
128mph on the HM Plant Honda but
Ryan Farquhar was flying on his
Superstock Kawasaki and a lap of
128.076mph saw him go quickest, that
speed also the Northern Irishman’s
fastest ever lap of the Mountain
Course, albeit unofficially.
Conor Cummins
posted a late lap of 127.010mph with
Gary Johnson also having a better
run after problems earlier in the
week, the AIM Racing rider lapping
at 126.488mph, just quicker than Dan
Stewart, who also recorded his
fastest ever lap.
The newcomers
again continued to make good
progress and this time it was
Stephen Thompson who was quickest at
115.114mph. Herve Ganther and James
Hurrell both lapped in excess of
111mph with Clinton Pienaar also
over 110mph for the first timer
whilst former British 125cc Champion
Dan Cooper impressed on the 600cc
Suzuki at 111.026mph.
In the
sidecars it was Dave Molyneux and
Patrick Farrance who again led the
field away from John Holden/Andy
Winkle and Klaus Klaffenbock/Dan
Sayle but Tim Reeves and Dipash
Chauhan were again in trouble on the
opening lap, stopping at Kirk
Michael to make adjustments.
Molyneux’s first lap was 113.917mph
but went quicker second time around
at 114.748mph whilst Klaffenbock’s
impressive week continued with a
best lap of 113.576mph, another,
unofficial, personal best. Holden
and Simon Neary were again above
112mph with Reeves able to get going
to lap at 109.028mph on his second
lap. Gary Bryan and Roy Hanks were
two more retirements.
Brian
McCormack, Scott Wilson and Paul
Shoesmith were all involved in an
incident at Waterworks but were
reported as OK, Jenny Tinmouth’s
bike ended up in a hedge at Sulby
Bridge, Takahiro Itami came off at
Braddan Oak, Brendan Cretu at Nook
and Steven McIlvenna at Governors
Bridge but all were reported as OK.
In the Carl Fenwick’s passenger Keir
Pedley sustained leg injuries at
Cruickshanks and was taken by airmed
to hospital.