| | Biker News - Regularly updated
Category: IOM TT - Manx Grand Prix
-
Michael Dunlop has thrown down the gauntlet ahead of tomorrow’s RST Superbike race at the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy, with a lap of 131.062mph in Saturday morning’s qualifying session.
After the session Michael Dunlop said:
"I'm happy to do the lap, but we have suffered with the lack of track time and we're still working on setup. It's the first time this bike has been round here, so we've been changing lots of things each time we go out. The time's good but we've got to ride at that pace for six laps tomorrow, so we'll see how we go."
After a slight delay due to a medical issue at Glen Lough, the morning practice session got underway at 10.54am with David Johnson and Ian Hutchinson leading the field away on their Superbikes followed by James Hillier, Michael Rutter, Gary Johnson and Dean Harrison.
Conditions all around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course were ideal and Hutchinson was first to complete a lap on the Tyco BMW at 129.89mph although this was upstaged by Dunlop’s 131mph+ lap on the Bennetts Suzuki.
Dan Kneen was also quicker than Hutchinson with Peter Hickman and Harrison the only other riders above 129mph. Dunlop wasn’t able to improve upon his lap second time around but Hickman went second quickest on the Smiths Racing BMW with a lap of 130.629mph.
Hutchinson moved up to third with 130.327mph but Kneen was only three hundredths of a second behind with a lap of 130.324mph, which was his quickest ever lap of the Mountain Course, albeit unofficially. Michael Rutter (Bathams/SMT Racing BMW) was the fifth and final rider to break the 130mph barrier with Bruce Anstey and James Hillier getting into the 129s.
David Johnson and Josh Brookes both lapped at just under 127mph on the Nortons whilst impressive laps were recorded by, among others, Derek Sheils, Jamie Coward, Phil Crowe and Andrew Dudgeon.
As the session wore on, the riders constantly pitted to either make changes to their Superbike or switch to their Supersport or Superstock machines and Lee Johnston was quickest in both of the latter. However, he crashed out towards the end of the session at Greeba Castle, sustaining minor injuries, and the session came to an early end. It was later reported that Johnston would be transferred to Liverpool for further assessment and treatment. Joe Akroyd on his Superstock machine was reported off at Glentramman and was also transferred to Liverpool while Danny Webb sustained a shoulder injury in an incident at Laurel Bank.
After a break for Sidecar qualifying, the solo’s were back on track at 2.20pm with a session for the Supersport and Lightweight machines but the session was soon red flagged after an incident involving Paul Jordan and Bjorn Gunnarsson at Sarah’s Cottage. Both were taken to Nobles Hospital with Jordan sustaining a wrist injury and Gunnarsson complaining of neck pains but both were later discharged.
At 3.25pm, the action resumed and William Dunlop was quickest out the blocks with a lap of 125.297mph to go to the top of the Supersport leaderboard. Dean Harrison wasn’t far behind with 125.188mph with Ian Hutchinson, James Hillier and Peter Hickman also over 124mph.
However, the session was stopped due to a non-racing incident at Union Mills eventually restarting just after 4pm.
Hutchinson went slightly quicker to maintain his third place with Gary Johnson improving to 123.336mph and seventh overall. A superb performance came from newcomer Adam McLean with a lap of 120.499mph whilst fellow debutante Joey Thompson also improved, his best lap being 117.287mph.
In the Lightweight class, Martin Jessopp set the fastest lap of the week with a speed of 116.535mph on the Riders Motorcycles Kawasaki. 2015 and 2016 winner Ivan Lintin was less than half a second behind in second with Hickman’s final lap of 116.239mph seeing him jump up to third on the KMR/IEG Kawasaki.
Dan Cooper also lapped in excess of 116mph to place fourth ahead of Stefano Bonetti with Michael Dunlop putting in his first laps of the week on the McAdoo Racing Kawasaki to go sixth at 115.572mph. Gary Johnson, Josh Brookes and James Cowton were the other riders to lap at more than 115mph whilst McLean was again flying in tenth.
Tomorrow’s schedule, the first race day of the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy is as follows:
12.45 - Road closed Barrule Park, Ramsey to Bungalow
13.00 - Road closed Bungalow to Creg Ny Baa
13.30 - Roads closed rest of the course
14.00 - RST Superbike Race (6 laps)
16.25 - Sidecar Qualifying (1 lap)
16.40 - TT Zero Qualifying (1 lap)
17.30 - Roads scheduled to be open except mountain section
18.30 - Roads scheduled to be open around the course
-
- Bonetti puts Paton on top of the Lightweight board and Harrison pips Dunlop in Supersport qualifier while ‘Moly’ continues to dominate sidecar qualifying
Conditions were finally perfect for qualifying at the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy, and Ian Hutchinson and Bruce Anstey set the pace with both averaging laps of over 129mph.
Hutchinson’s lap of 129.535mph came on his Superstock BMW after stopping at Governor’s Bridge on his opening lap on the Superbike with Anstey posting a time of 129.212mph on the RC213-VS padgettsmotorcycles.com Honda.
Hutchinson was first to leave the line at 6.23pm alongside Peter Hickman on the Smiths Racing Superstock BMW. Gary Johnson and James Hillier, Steve Mercer and Lee Johnston and Dan Kneen and Michael Dunlop quickly followed the opening pair down Glencrutchery Road.
Kneen was reported to have stopped at Quarter Bridge but he was soon back out on his Superstock mount while the Norton pairing of David Johnson and Josh Brookes were out of luck, retiring at the Bottom of Barregarrow and Ballaugh respectively.
Hickman was first to complete a lap with 128.028mph but Hutchinson had stopped at Governor’s. Johnson and Hillier had no such problems, and both were above the 127mph mark. Dunlop was quickest on the lap though with an opening lap of 128.576mph with Hillier, Conor Cummins, Michael Rutter, Dean Harrison and Bruce Anstey also over 127mph.
On the second lap Hickman was slightly slower at 127.63mph but Anstey had upped the pace considerably to 129.212mph, which made him the evening’s quickest Superbike. Mercer and Rutter were over 125mph but further back on the road, Hutchinson was getting back in the groove and sure enough a lap of 129.535mph not only made him the fastest Superstock machine but also the fastest on the night.
Kneen’s good week in the Superstock class continued with a lap of 127.23mph but this was upstaged on the third lap by Rutter and Harrison who lapped at 128.588mph and 128.477mph respectively to go second and third in the Superstock class behind Hutchinson.
Meanwhile, the newcomers were also making good progress with Adam McLean putting in a superb lap at 119.06mph. Paul Jordan jumped up to 114.88mph with Joey Thompson on 112.91mph.
Just after 7.10pm, the 1000cc machines were short lapped and the course became the sole domain of the Supersport and Lightweight machines. Hutchinson set the initial pace on the McAMS Yamaha at 123.19mph but this was bettered by Harrison on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki with a speed of 123.323mph.
However, towards the end of the session, Michael Dunlop just edged out Harrison with a speed of 123.325mph but the Bradford rider wasn’t to be outdone and a 124.35mph lap sent him to the top of the leaderboard. Hillier slotted into fourth at 122.93 with Hickman, Cummins, Jamie Coward, William Dunlop, Anstey and Kneen also above 121mph.
In the Lightweight class, Italian Stefano Bonetti set the fastest lap of the week to date with a speed of 115.69mph on the Paton with Rutter, also on a Paton, on 114.28mph. Hickman on the KMR/IEG Kawasaki, was second with a lap of 114.86mph from Dan Cooper (114.79) and Lee Johnston (114.73).
Steve Mercer was reported to have had an accident at the 11th milestone and was taken by airmed to Nobles with what were initially described as minor injuries while Frank Gallagher suffered broken teeth at the Gooseneck and was taken back to the paddock in a course car.
After a short delay due to the incidents in the solo’s session, the Formula Two Sidecars were back out on the Mountain Course at 8.10pm with Ben and Tom Birchall leading the field away only to retire at Crosby.
That gave Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle a clear road and their opening lap of 113.001mph was just over 1mph quicker than Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes on 111.999mph. Karl Bennett/Maxime Vasseur (109.51), Alan Founds/Jake Lowther (109.04), Lewis Blackstock/Patrick Rosney (107.95) and Estelle Leblond/Melanie Farnier (106.59).
Second time around and the leading duo both upped their pace but Molyneux/Sayle held onto the top spot with the fastest lap of the week at 114.74mph. Reeves/Wilkes weren’t too far behind though and improved to 114.35mph, the fastest ever lap by a newcomer passenger albeit unofficially. John Holden/Lee Cain got a clear run on their second lap with a speed of 112.085mph putting them third quickest.
Some of the TT Zero machines opted for an early look at the track at the end of the evening and the Mugen pair of Anstey (109.520) and Martin (108.413) were predictably quickest although there was a notable performance by Adam Child in completing the first production electric bike lap (74.786) on the Energica machine.
Following the loss of earlier sessions during the week, tomorrow’s schedule is now a full dedicated day of qualifying with the RST Superbike now scheduled for Sunday 4th June, the first race of TT 2017:
FULL SCHEDULE SATURDAY 3RD JUNE 2017
09.15 Road closed Barrule Park, Ramsey to Bungalow
09.30 Road closed Bungalow to Creg Ny Baa
10.00 Roads closed rest of the course
10.40 – 12.00 Superbike/Superstock/Supersport/Newcomers (all Classes except Lightweight) Qualifying
12.05 – 13.05 Sidecar Qualifying
14.10 – 15.30 Supersport/Lightweight/Newcomers (all classes) Qualifying
15.40 – 16.30 Sidecar Qualifying
16.35 Superbike/Superstock/Supersport Qualifying (1 lap)
17.00 TT Zero Qualifying (1 lap)
17.40 Roads scheduled to be open except mountain section
18.40 Roads scheduled to be open around the course
-
Isle of Man TT - Cheese on the Menu... Ace Cafe London teams up with the Isle of Man!
Located for TT fortnight from 27th May to 9th June at the heart of the 2017 IoM TT action, by the Grandstand on the Glencrutchery Road start/finish line, the Ace Cafe London stand and display includes, from noon on both the 5th and 7th June, hosting cheese tastings with the Isle of Man Creamery.
In the race for taste, Ace Cafe London use Isle of Man Grated Mature Cheddar Cheese supplied by the Isle of Man Creamery, a co-operative of family owned dairy farms and a community at the very heart of the Isle of Man, and whose farm-assured herds supply the purest of milk – farm fresh.
Producing milk and making cheese for centuries, with stories that go back to the time of the Vikings, the Isle of Man Creamery today only uses locally sourced milk to make its award winning range of cheeses.
The Isle of Man Mature Cheddar is a firm bodied, distinctly creamy and full-flavoured cheese with a smooth close texture, matured for at least 10 to 12 months, graded by the Creamery’s experienced cheese graders, it is the cheese of choice at the Ace.
See you racing and tasting, on the island.
www.iomtt.com
www.ace-cafe-london.com/Menu.aspx
www.isleofmancreamery.com
www.britishcheese.com
For more information about Ace Cafe or what’s on, check out:
www.ace-cafe-london.com
-
The second qualifying session for the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy took place on Wednesday evening although weather conditions meant it was a truncated session with riders completing just one full lap.
The original intention by Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson, anticipating the deteriorating conditions, was to run additional laps at full speed to Ramsey Hairpin before red flagging the riders and escorting them over the Mountain but low mist even curtailed that attempt to establish qualifying laps and give the riders time on the track.
In the limited session that was available Ian Hutchinson and Michael Dunlop again set the pace with the Tyco BMW of Hutchinson edging out the Bennetts Suzuki of Dunlop, 128.98mph to 127.23mph.
The session got underway on time at 6.20pm with the riders briefed that they may be stopped at Ramsey but on the first lap, it was clear enough to at least get a full lap in and Hutchinson, first away from the line with Steve Mercer, put down the marker with his 128mph lap to top the evening’s and overall leaderboard, such as it is to date.
Mercer lapped at 123.98mph quickly followed over the line by Dunlop who time was second quickest. Michael Rutter and Martin Jessopp set almost identical lap times at 123.96 and 123.94 respectively, having set off together whilst James Hillier was slightly quicker at 124.52mph.
Bruce Anstey completed his first lap of the week on the Honda RC211V, lapping at 124.14mph, with Conor Cummins and Gary Johnson also above the 124mph mark. However, the third quickest lap of the night came from Dan Kneen on his DTR powered by Penz 13 BMW, who posted a speed of 125.19, which saw him again top the Superstock class as he had the previous evening.
The Norton Racing Australian duo of David Johnson and Josh Brookes were picking up the pace, lapping at 123.61mph and 122.58mph respectively while Guy Martin was also quicker than the previous night with a lap of 121.42mph.
Lee Johnston was the quickest 600 on the padgettsmotorcycles.com bike, with a speed of 122.16mph but conditions were already deteriorating with fog descending on the Mountain and visibility significantly reduced.
The riders were short lapped at the start and finish but went out again with all the front runners going at full pace to Ramsey. Unfortunately, the cloud cover wasn’t just descending on the Mountain and was now coming down on the bottom part of the circuit and it was reported that, with no airmed cover possible anywhere around the 37.73-miles course, the session was ended at 7.15pm.
Dave Sellers was reported to be off at the Gooseneck and though reported as up and okay he was later transferred to Nobles hospital with a reported rib injury.
Tomorrow’s schedule is:
18.20 to 19.10 Superbike/ Superstock/ Supersport/ Newcomers (all classes ex Lightweight)
19.10 to 19.35 Supersport/ Lightweight/ Newcomers (all Classes)
19.40 to 20.40 Sidecars
20.40 to 20.50 TT Zero 1 lap practice
-
In addition to his RST Superbike and PokerStars Senior TT Race duties for Norton Racing at the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy, Australian Josh Brookes will contest the Bennetts Lightweight TT riding for Ryan Farquhar’s IEG/KMR Kawasaki team.
Brookes, who will be making his first appearance in the class, will campaign the bike originally earmarked for Hudson Kennaugh which Michael Rutter took to first and second place finishes at the recent North West 200 road races. Riding for three-time TT winner Farquhar, Rutter also became the first rider to lap the Triangle circuit at more than 110mph.
With Kennaugh withdrawing from the event and Brookes keen to extend his 2017 race schedule around the Mountain Course, the 2015 British Superbike Champion, currently lying fourth in this year’s table, struck a deal with Farquhar and will be among the favourites for victory in the four lap race.
The 33-year old, who will be making his third appearance at the TT, will be the fourth rider in an already formidable looking line-up at KMR Kawasaki that also features Lee Johnston, Peter Hickman and Danny Webb. It’s a team packed with talent and pedigree and one that Farquhar is extremely proud of and whilst results are never guaranteed, he certainly has a great chance of success.
Ryan Farquhar: “When Hudson withdrew from the North West 200 and TT, my immediate focus was on the North West and Michael did an absolutely brilliant job to take a race win after stepping in at the last minute. He’d already agreed to ride the Paton at the TT though so wasn’t available but having had tentative talks with Josh over the winter, I’m now delighted to welcome him on board. Having a ride of that pedigree riding for KMR is a terrific coup and I’m really looking forward to working with him.”
“We were a little bit down on top speed at the North West but Michael showed what the bike was capable of, particularly in the handling department, and with four incredibly talented riders on the KMR Kawasaki’s, we’re confident of having a good TT. It’s going to be hard work, without doubt, but all four riders are more than capable of standing on the podium so we’ll be giving it our best shot.”
Qualifying for this year’s TT is due to get underway on Saturday 27th May with the four-lap Bennetts Lightweight TT scheduled to take place on Wednesday June 7th.
|
