Isle of Man TT: Thursday Practice Report

Iom TT News

Another glorious day on the Isle of Man meant that conditions were again perfect for the penultimate qualifying session for the 2010 TT Motorcycle Road 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.

Pos No. Rider Machine/Entrant Lap Lap Time Speed
1 4 Ian Hutchinson 1000cc Honda / Padgetts Motorcycles 2 17 23.51 130.165
2 10 Conor Cummins 1000cc Kawasaki / McAdoo Kawasaki Racing 2 17 34.25 128.838
3 6 Cameron Donald 1000cc Suzuki / Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing 2 17 34.27 128.836
4 5 Keith Amor 1000cc Honda / H M Plant Honda 1 17 35.46 128.691
5 16 Michael Rutter 1000cc Honda / Batham’s Honda 2 17 44.78 127.564
6 14 Michael Dunlop 1000cc Honda / Street Sweep/Robinson Concrete 2 17 45.35 127.496
7 3 Ian Lougher 1000cc Kawasaki / Blackhorse Kawasaki 2 18 00.83 125.670
8 2 John McGuinness 1000cc Honda / HM Plant Honda Racing 2 18 05.64 125.113
9 12 Ryan Farquhar 1000cc Kawasaki / MSS Colchester Kawasaki 1 18 06.20 125.049
10 11 Gary Johnson 1000cc Suzuki / AIM Racing 1 18 06.55 125.009
11 29 Mark Buckley 1000cc Kawasaki / OTSS Racing 3 18 12.58 124.319
12 40 Steve Mercer 1000cc Yamaha / G Forces / SMR Road Racing 2 18 14.01 124.156
13 18 Dan Kneen 1000cc Suzuki / Manx Gas / Marks Bloom Racing 1 18 17.86 123.720
14 9 Adrian Archibald 1000cc Suzuki / AMA Racing Team 1 18 19.21 123.569
15 8 Guy Martin 1000cc Honda / Wilson Craig Racing 1 18 21.84 123.274
16 27 James McBride 1000cc Yamaha / Downview Finance / Pazzo Racing 1 18 32.62 122.080
17 24 Ian Mackman 1000cc Suzuki / PRF Racing 1 18 34.34 121.891
18 34 Stephen Oates 1000cc Suzuki / Hallett Aviation/Road & Racing Motorcycles 1 18 34.39 121.885
19 23 Derek Brien 1000cc Kawasaki / Hunky Dory Racing 2 18 37.05 121.595
20 37 Luis Carreira 1000cc Suzuki / Benimoto Suzuki Cetelem 3 18 38.95 121.389
21 41 Paul Dobbs 1000cc Yamaha / Dave East Engineering 1 18 39.05 121.378
22 15 Carl Rennie 1000cc Suzuki / PRF Racing 1 18 39.16 121.366
23 1 Bruce Anstey 1000cc Suzuki / Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing 1 18 41.01 121.166
24 19 James Hillier 1000cc Kawasaki / Bournemouth Kawasaki 1 18 42.33 121.023
25 21 John Burrows 1000cc Suzuki / BE Racing 1 18 43.36 120.912
26 38 Antonio Maeso 1000cc Yamaha 3 18 43.38 120.910
27 43 Sergio Romero 1000cc Suzuki / Sondel Sport Racing 2 18 44.40 120.801
28 32 Stefano Bonetti 1000cc Honda 1 18 44.59 120.781
29 59 James McCullagh 1000cc Yamaha / C & C Limited 3 18 46.56 120.569
30 44 David Hewson 1000cc Kawasaki / The Other Bike Shop 2 18 50.66 120.132
31 28 Davy Morgan 1000cc Suzuki / CSC Branson Racing 1 18 52.85 119.899
32 25 Ian Pattinson 1000cc Yamaha / Phase One Endurance 1 18 55.41 119.629
33 52 Michael Russell 1000cc Yamaha 2 18 56.46 119.519
34 48 David Paredes 1000cc Yamaha / Bill Smith Motors 2 18 58.06 119.351
35 45 Ben Wylie 1000cc Yamaha / Phase One Endurance 2 18 58.21 119.335
36 35 Robert Barber 1000cc Yamaha / Race Spares UK 2 19 03.80 118.752
37 58 David Johnson* 1000cc Honda / DP Coldplaning 2 19 05.20 118.607
38 31 Rico Penzkofer 1000cc BMW / Penz13.Com Racing Team 1 19 08.25 118.291
39 53 Paul Shoesmith 1000cc BMW / Speedfreak Ice Valley 1 19 08.76 118.239
40 60 Alan Connor 1000cc Suzuki 2 19 09.21 118.192
41 67 Scott Wilson 1000cc Suzuki / Diamond H Servlite Racing 2 19 09.94 118.118

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