Michael Dunlop sealed pole position for the 1000cc Senior races, as he got his 2017 Southern 100 campaign off to a strong start.
Looking in excellent fettle on the Bennetts Suzuki, it didn’t take for the new GSX-R 1000 to look at one with the famous roads of Billown.
The 15 times TT winners lap time of 2 minutes 17.963 set on lap two of last evening’s qualifying session, was over half a second quicker than nearest challenger Dan Kneen, who was in action on his brother Ryan’s Charmer Builders backed S1000RR BMW.
Dan’s performance in qualifying was made all the more impressive, given that he had minimal sleep from travelling back from a successful time at Imatranajo in Finland.
Silicone Engineering Racing’s Dean Harrison was next up on the time sheets, just 0.321 behind the Manxman, whilst Ivan Lintin, James Cowton and Jamie Coward all showed solid form in finishing fourth, fifth and sixth fastest.
The BMW mounted trio of Rob Hodson, Mark Parrett and Anthony Redmond plus PMH Promotions backed Mark Goodings, concluded the ten fastest qualifiers.
Leading newcomer, 17th quickest, was PRL Worthington Racing’s Sam West, lapping at a very respectable 2 minutes 26.562 seconds.
Southern 100 – Senior Qualifying Results:
1 Michael Dunlop 2.17.963
2 Dan Kneen 2.18.476
3 Dean Harrison 2.18.797
4 Ivan Lintin 2.19.394
5 James Cowton 2.19.803
6 Jamie Coward 2.19.972
7 Rob Hodson 2.20.966
8 Mark Parrett 2.23.130
9 Anthony Redmond 2.23.148
10 Mark Goodings 2.23.511
11 Davy Morgan 2.23.961
12 Michael Russell 2.24.008
13 Michael Evans 2.24.260
14 Seamus Elliott 2.25.108
15 Daley Mathison 2.25.959
16 Jamie Williams 2.26.406
17 Sam West 2.26.562
18 Rhys Hardisty 2.27.004
19 Mick Goodings 2.27.121
20 Frank Gallagher 2.29.094
21 Dennis Booth 2.30.300
22 Stephen Parsons 2.30.429
23 Stephen McKnight 2.30.780
24 Allan Brodie 2.31.240
25 Paul Gartland 2.32.251
26 Andy Sailor 2.34.035
27 Thomas Gottschalk 2.37.779
28 Mark Pattinson 2.38.247
29 Billy Mellor 2.38.259
30 Tom Parkes 2.38.933
31 Andy McAllister 2.38.936
32 Alan Connor 2.39.217
33 Andy Sellars 2.39.750
34 Brian Clark 2.53.997
Words by Stevie Rial