By With perfect conditions tonight at TT 2016, many where predicting ultra fast laps of the magical Mountain Course, those who said this, where not disappointed, as the pace at the front of the superbike field, well and truly heated up.
Michael Dunlop carried on from where he left off during last night’s practice session at TT 2016, as this evening’s practice saw the 11 times TT winner, set a quite scintillating lap speed of 132.365 mph, on the Hawk Racing S1000RR BMW.
Photo by Louis Porter
This is the first time that a 132 mph lap, has been recorded during a practice week at the TT Races. There’s no doubt about it in my opinion, that he’s the man to beat going into the RST Superbike and Pokerstars Senior races.
Second quickest Tyco BMW’s Ian Hutchinson, was also in fantastic form, lapping at 131.661 mph.
John McGuinness 131.116 mph, third fastest, made it three riders lapping in excess of 131 mph, during a quite thrilling evening of competition around the Mountain Course.
Conor Cummins was next up lapping a whisker under the 130 mph mark with lap speed of 129.986 mph, he was followed by the flying Dean Harrison, who gets better and better on the Silicone Engineering Racing ZX10R Kawasaki.
James Hillier 128.555 mph, Lee Johnston 128.342 mph and Michael Rutter 128.340 mph, all showed world class form as did David Johnson who became the fastest ever Norton mounted rider at the Isle of Man TT, lapping at 128.323 mph.
The fastest Australian competitor at the TT Races performance will give Norton, a great confidence boost, ahead of the upcoming race week.
William Dunlop lapped at exactly 128 mph on his own teams YZF R1M Yamaha, whilst Steve Mercer on the Jackson Racing CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade, continues to impress lapping at 127.972 mph.
It was an eventful evening for Bruce Anstey, who lapped at 127.787 mph, on the Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Motorcycles CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade superbike.
Lap two on the superbike, would see Bruce crash at Keppel Gate, sustaining a possible ankle injury, but apart from that, he is ok.
Completing the top ten in practice was Devitt RC Express Racing’s Ivan Lintin, who set a new personal best lap speed of 127.765 mph.
Added stellar performances included Dan Hegarty 126.041 mph, James Cowton 125.752 mph, Brian McCormack 125.649 mph, Michael Sweeney 125.407 mph, Derek Sheils on the Cookstown BE Racing GSX-R 1000 Suzuki 125.116 and Jamie Coward 124.982 mph.
TT 2016 – Thursday Practice – Superbike Results:
1 6 Michael Dunlop BMW/Hawk Racing 2 17:06.164 132.365
2 4 Ian Hutchinson BMW/Tyco BMW 1 17:11.649 131.661
3 1 John McGuinness Honda/Honda Racing 2 17:15.940 131.116
4 10 Conor Cummins Honda/Honda Racing 2 17:24.944 129.986
5 12 Dean Harrison Kawasaki/Silicone Engineering 1 17:25.087 129.968
6 3 James Hillier Kawasaki/Quattro Plant Muc-Off Kawasaki 2 17:36.576 128.555
7 13 Lee Johnston BMW/East Coast Construction / Burdens 2 17:38.331 128.342
8 9 Michael Rutter BMW/Bathams SMT Racing 2 17:38.343 128.340
9 15 David Johnson Norton/Norton Motorcycles 3 17:38.485 128.323
10 8 William Dunlop Yamaha/IC Racing / Caffrey International 1 17:41.154 128.000
11 19 Steve Mercer Honda/Jackson Racing 1 17:41.392 127.972
12 2 Bruce Anstey Honda/Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Motorcycles 1 17:42.921 127.787
13 20 Ivan Lintin Kawasaki/Devitt RC Express Racing 1 17:43.112 127.765
14 7 Gary Johnson BMW/Team Penz13.com BMW Motorrad Motorsport 1 17:45.901 127.430
15 25 Daniel Hegarty Kawasaki/RTR & JVC RACING 3 17:49.755 126.971
16 42 Brian McCormack Honda/VTL / Kavanaghchristmastrees.ie 3 17:58.339 125.960
17 29 James Cowton BMW/Cowton racing by Radcliffes 2 18:00.128 125.752
18 37 Michael Sweeney Kawasaki/MJR Racing 2 18:03.101 125.407
19 50 Derek Sheils Suzuki/Burrows Engineering 2 18:05.619 125.116
20 18 Martin Jessopp BMW/Riders Motorcycles BMW 1 18:06.398 125.026
21 36 Jamie Coward Honda/RJP Racing / Jamie Coward Racing 1 18:06.781 124.982
22 31 Horst Saiger Kawasaki/Saiger-Racing.com 1 18:07.335 124.918
23 43 Christopher Dixon Honda/Padgetts Motorcycles 2 18:09.742 124.642
24 22 Alan Bonner Kawasaki/devitt rc express kawasaki 2 18:10.791 124.522
25 11 Cameron Donald Honda/Wilson Craig Racing 2 18:10.943 124.505
26 44 Ben Wylie Bimota/Bimota 2 18:11.104 124.487
27 32 Mark Miller EBR/Splitlath EBR 2 18:20.975 123.371
28 27 Shaun Anderson Suzuki/Anderson Race Developments 1 18:21.111 123.355
29 24 Sam West BMW/Ice Valley / Four Anjels Racing 2 18:22.932 123.152
30 58 Philip Crowe BMW/Handtrans / Fleetwood Grab / Sheffpack 3 18:23.811 123.054
31 41 Kamil Holan BMW/IVR BMW Motorrad CSEU 1 18:25.566 122.858
32 26 Ryan Kneen Kawasaki/Charmer Builders Ltd 2 18:26.076 122.802
33 34 Davy Morgan Honda/Bumblebee Barn / Magic Bullet Motorsport 2 18:26.861 122.715
34 39 Ian Pattinson BMW/Weardale Racing Ltd 2 18:28.048 122.583
35 30 Stefano Bonetti Kawasaki/Rock and Road Racing 1 18:28.596 122.523
36 72 Daley Mathison Suzuki/Hol-Taj Suzuki 2 18:28.616 122.520
37 51 Rob Hodson Suzuki/PRF Racing 2 18:29.012 122.477
38 63 Dominic Herbertson BMW/WH racing 2 18:32.433 122.100
39 81 Jim Hodson BMW/JGH Racing/CRUK 2 18:35.890 121.722
40 49 Derek McGee BMW/NW Racing 2 18:36.212 121.687
41 52 David Sellers Kawasaki/DSR Racing 1 18:36.709 121.632
42 64 Danny Webb BMW/Team Penz13.com BMW Motorrad Motorsport. 2 18:36.890 121.613
43 38 Paul Shoesmith BMW/Ice Valley Four Anjels 2 18:39.961 121.279
44 86 Hudson Kennaugh BMW/RST / Spoor-Tech 1 18:41.793 121.081
45 40 John Ingram BMW/Pipe Werx BMW 2 18:42.216 121.036
46 55 Michael Russell Honda/RAF Careers 1 18:48.309 120.382
47 54 Steve Heneghan BMW/Reactive Parts 2 18:48.917 120.317
48 56 AJ Venter Honda/Top Gun Racing 2 18:50.627 120.135
49 83 Marco Pagani BMW/Team Franciacorta Corse by RMS 1 18:53.953 119.783
50 57 Fabrice Miguet Kawasaki/ SRM61 1 18:55.830 119.585
51 53 Andrew Soar Suzuki/Pete Stacey 1 18:57.479 119.411
52 68 Stephen McKnight Honda/Self 2 18:58.392 119.316
53 47 Mark Parrett BMW/C & C Ltd IOM 1 18:59.405 119.210
54 75 Anthony Redmond BMW/Green Ant Racing 2 19:00.053 119.142
55 69 Brandon Cretu Bimota/Bimota 2 19:02.329 118.904
56 80 Julien Toniutti Yamaha/Optimark Road Racing Team 1 19:02.918 118.843
57 61 George Spence Honda/Dod Spence Racing 2 19:04.308 118.699
58 84 Richard McLoughlin Kawasaki/ABTECH PRECISION / BRESLIN AUTOBODY 2 19:05.418 118.584
59 82 Matthew Rees Kawasaki/Phil Morris Racing/GT Superbikes 1 19:08.784 118.236
60 85 Craig Neve Kawasaki/Callmac Flexi Hydraulic Racing 1 19:10.778 118.031
61 88 Jochem van den Hoek Kawasaki/Performance Racing Achterhoek 4 19:11.169 117.991
62 91 Alessandro Polita BMW/Penz 13 Racing 3 19:21.786 116.913
63 78 Alan Connor Suzuki/Huws/Connor Racing 2 19:24.177 116.673
64 89 Seamus Elliott Kawasaki/ThePeoplesBike.com 4 19:35.296 115.569
65 90 Mike Booth Kawasaki/Danny Tomlinson Racing 2 19:44.901 114.632
66 59 Eric Wilson BMW/PRB Econoloft Racing 1 19:48.053 114.328
67 76 Ben Rea Honda/VRS Racing 3 19:56.116 113.558
68 93 Andre Pires Suzuki/AP Racing / Incortcar 4 20:24.749 110.903
Words by Stevie Rial
