Tuesday 31st Practice Review
Tuesday evening's practice session was run in near-perfect conditions over the 37.73 mile TT course, with only the dazzling sunshine likely to cause any problems for the riders.AS usual the solo machines were out first, headed by Ian 'Lucky' Lougher on his Supersport 600 Honda and local rider Chris Heath. Richard Britton, Martin Finnegan and Gary Carswell also left the pit lane early, as did Japanese rider Jun Maeda who has been improving considerably over the last couple of years and certainly has a chance of a top 10 finish this year. Look out for him at number 29 in the Superbike.First machine to complete a lap was Lougher, at an average speed of 121.28 mph (roughly 18m 44s.) He pulled in to the return road to change bike and go out on the big 1000. Some of the next back were Heath at 118.62 (19m 05s, 599 Yamaha) and Martin Finnegan (who was 1st to Glen Helen) at 119.74 on his Superbike. Finnegan also halted to change machines.Other riders completing laps on their 600 Supersport Junior machines included Kiwi Bruce Anstey (119.43mph, 18m 56s,) Jason Griffiths at 119.81mph, newcomer last year Guy Martin at 120.63mph, and newcomer Cameron Donald at 110.09, his quickest so far on the TT Course. John McGuinness had problems with his 600 mount and ended up pushing back to the pits before he went out on one of his two larger machines.Gary Carswell his problems on Lap 1 but other local Paul Hunt managed a 115.58 (19.36) and Chris Palmer was also going well in the 117/118mph region. Dundrod's Darran Lindsay returns to Mona's Isle for the first time since 2000 and he recorded a lap of 115.03 mph (19m 41s.) Jun Maeda lapped at 115.34mph.Lap 2 did not produce the glut of fastest times that many people had expected. True, most riders did improve their times for the evening but this was not the case across the board. Guy Martin lapped at 121.42 mph, a speed increase of 0.79mph (which equates to just under 10 seconds) and 'Big H' Paul Hunt also improved to an impressive 117.92mph although this was on his Superbike machinery (I believe) and not the 600. Bruce Anstey quickened from 119.43 to 121.36 and Jason Griffiths, another locally based rider, produced a highly impressive 122.24 mph (18m 31s.) Nigel 'Cap' Davies lapped at over 120 mph (121.30) as did Ryan Farquhar at 121.60, and Cameron Donald improved his time by almost 2mph (20secs.)Many riders swapped and changed bikes two or even three times, some even managed 4 laps with this mix-and-match approach. Adrian Archibald got round on Lap 2 at 123.76 mph, the fastest of the evening so far, on his 1000cc TAS Suzuki, and there was improvement too for Lougher with a 123.55 (both roughly around the 18m 20s mark.) Griffiths quickened by 0.2 mph to 122.26, and Lindsay also improved his time from 115.03 to 117.19, an increase of 2.16mph and about 20 seconds.The best, however, was yet to come. John McGuinness shot round in 125.26 mph, 0.22mph faster than Monday night and about 4 seconds short of breaking the 18 minute barrier. The lap record currently stands at 17m 43s, held by McGuinness himself, so there is still work to be done to match that sort of time.Other locals out on track included Barry Wood, who lapped at 109.63 mph on his 600 Yamaha, and Nigel Beattie, who was complaining of clutch problems after Lap 1. He still managed a 119.17 mph lap though on the Superbike. Man to watch, and my tip for a top 10 in one of the races, Jun Maeda, recorded a very respectable 121.53 mph on his 3rd lap, aboard his 1000cc Honda Superbike.The solo session concluded on time at about 7.25 and it was the turn of the 3-wheelers. Nick Crowe and Darren Hope were second crew off the line, and will have been hoping to better their magnificent 111.41 mph lap of last night. Following them was the number 3 Team Lockside outfit of Steve Norbury/Andy Smith, and behind them were Roy Hanks/Dave Wells (4.) Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle as usual headed the field. Glyn Jones and Ivan Murray (22) had problems with thier outfit and did not leave the start with the rest of the field.Towards the end of Lap 1, reports were that Molyneux had stopped 'over the mountain' (Creg-ny-Baa) and that Crowe was the first bike on the road. This was confirmed when slidey 2 crossed the line at the Grandstand ahead of anyone else, achieving a speed of 110.24 mph, marginally quicker than their 1st lap yesterday but slower than their 2nd. Next back were Norbury and Smith who bombed straight through, their lap 109.85 - a big improvement on yesterday.At least two other crews were known to have suffered the same fate as Molyneux, having to stop on the 1st lap. Number 9, Greg Lambert and Richard Long (who I presume is the Rick Long who partnered Rob Fisher for all those years - anyone know?) stopped on track as did Allan Schofield and Gary Partridge (no locations I'm afraid...coming soon I hope.) Schofield's partner in the chair from last year, Mark Cox, put in a good lap with driver Gary Horspole, at 107.47 mph. Other quick men on lap 1 included veteran Roy Hanks at 107.22, Tony Baker at 107.15 (this improved to 107.62 on Lap 2) and Nigel Connole at 105.79. Up-and-coming Simon Neary lapped his colourful outfit at 105.39, and Austrian World Sidecar champions of 2002 Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Parzer (no. 10) just broke the treble figures speed barrier at 100.29. 107 mph = 21m 09s105 mph = 21m 34s100 mph = 22m 38sCrowe and Hope made few, if any adjustments to their outfit but were complaining about the amount of flies on the circuit, especially in areas like Glen Helen and Sulby where there are plenty of trees. As a result they opted to clean their visors with Ribena - though you would have thought this would only worsen the problem! Apparantly it didn't as from a second standing start, the pairing were marginally quicker at 110.57 mph. Norbury completed lap 2 at an improved 110.45mph, which he was very happy with. He cited a changed rear sprocket as his reason for better times tonight than Monday.Other Lap 1 times at over 100mph included (16) Bill Currie/Kerry Williams (103.55), (7) Gary Bryan/Colin Hardman (104.55, with new leathers too!) and Philip Dongworth/Stuart Castles (8) at 105.11mph.Few sidecar crews bettered their lap 1 times after a second trip round, possibly due to the setting sun and increased fly count. Klaffenbock however must have been mighty pleased with his 2nd lap 103.89mph effort, about 21m 44s. He may have his sights set on a 105mph lap before the week is out.There was an incident involving Crew 5 (Horspole/Cox) and (17) Nigel Connole and Phillip Roberts, at Sarah's Cottage. Horspole is reported to have back injuries, Cox leg injuries, Roberts 'possible rib injuries' whilst Connole is apparantly unhurt. Two of the competitors were airlifted to Noble's Hospital and were seen to touch down by blue.kipper, although it is unconfirmed who they were. Happily is appeared that neither required neck braces or oxygen so hopefully their injuries are not serious.In the solos, newcomer Frank Spenner was once again in contact with the tarmac, having come off on Saturday. This time he came to grief at Governor's but is said to be unhurt.Next practice is scheduled for tomorrow night, Weds 1st June, roads close at 6pm. Weather forecast is for 'cloud with outbreaks of rain' so fingers crossed that we can get some more action. Have a peep tomorrow night for a report if it goes ahead.
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