By Underway at 6:30 PM, the opening Manx GP Supporters Club Lightweight Manx Grand Prix race began with practice week pace setter Francesco Curinga slotting into an early lead at Glen Helen.
Curinga enjoyed a 2.5 second advantage over Junior Manx GP lap record holder James Hind, whilst third position was held by Dave ‘Sideshow’ Butler.
Onto Ballaugh Bridge and it was all change out front as TZ 250 Yamaha mounted Hind powered into the race lead, moving almost four seconds clear of Bemar Racing Team’s Curinga.
By Ramsey Hairpin Hind moved 8.464 seconds ahead of Curinga and 10.301 seconds ahead of Fingal Motor Club supported Butler.
Come the completion of lap 1 Hind who set a blistering new Lightweight MGP lap record of 115.20 mph, held a 10.939 seconds lead over Curinga.
Photo by Mark Corlett
Butler maintained third, number 2 plate holder Mark Purslow occupied fourth as 2018 Newcomers B race victor Michael Rees and VRS Racing’s finalised the lap 1 top six.
Lap two saw race leader Hind, move further and further away from S1-R Paton mounted Curinga. 13.213 ahead at Glen Helen, his advantage out front extended to 23.035 seconds at Ramsey Hairpin and by the Bungalow he enjoyed a very healthy 24.711 seconds advantage.
Entering the pits for his scheduled pit-stop at the end of lap two, it was confirmed that Hind had broken his previous Lightweight class lap record, lapping at an incredible 116.45 mph.
Hind’s new lap record took his race lead up to almost thirty seconds, carrying onto the third and final lap a race lead of 29.268 seconds over 2017 European Hill Climb Supersport Champion, Curinga.
Photo by Mark Corlett
The third and final lap would see Market Rasen’s Dennis Trollope Racing supported Hind, maintain a consistent rapid pace prior to clinching race honours by 28.693 seconds.
First place finisher on the road Curinga placed runner-up as Dave ‘Sideshow’ Butler wrapped up the podium finishers.
Dafabet Devitt Racing backed Chris Moore finished fourth, VRS Racing’s Brad Vicars finished fifth as David McConnachy rounded out the top six finishers.
Placing’s 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th were banked respectively by Michael Rees, Paul Wardell, Dave Quine and RC Racing’s Marc Colvin.
Photo by Nick Wheeler
Added strong rides were produced by Darryl Tweed 11th, Renzo Van Der Donckt 13th, Jack Fowler 14th, Team York Suzuki’s Rodger Wibberley’s 15th, Gavin Brown 16th and 19th place finisher James Ford.
Manx GP Supporters Club Lightweight Manx Grand Prix race 1 result, is as follows:
1 James Hind
2 Francesco Curinga
3 Dave Butler
4 Chris Moore
5 Brad Vicars
6 David McConnachy
7 Michael Rees
8 Paul Wardell
9 Dave Quine
10 Marc Colvin
11 Darryl Tweed
12 Jamie Edwards
13 Renzo Van Der Donckt
14 Jack Fowler
15 Rodger Wibberley
16 Gavin Brown
17 Pete Murray
18 Wayne Axon
19 James Ford
20 Steven Horne
21 Ray Maloney
22 Veronika Hankocyova
23 Steven Beale
24 Mike Minns
25 Tommy Henry
26 Richard Saville
27 Paul Williams
28 Adrian Morris
29 Robert Nelson
Words by Stevie Rial
