By Supersport:
In pretty good conditions all round, albeit by all accounts a touch windy, the opening Supersport practice session of TT 2018 saw a selection of the world’s best road racers set a hot pace.
Silicone Engineering Racing’s Dean Harrison carrying on his great form from the North West 200, surged to the top of the time sheets, lapping at 125.797 mph.
Photo by Nick Wheeler
Second quickest behind Harrison by under half a second was Michael Dunlop (125.741), who looked in decent fettle aboard his own teams PTR prepared CBR 600RR Honda.
Early pace setter Conor Cummins (125.152) leading the three strong Padgetts challenge finished third quickest whilst fellow Manxman Dan Kneen (124.703) and Peter Hickman (124.313) fourth and fifth fastest respectively, also showed accomplished pace.
Lee Johnston (123.245), James Hillier (122.967), William Dunlop (122.755), McAMS Yamaha’s Josh Brookes (122.109) and Dafabet Devitt Racing’s Ivan Lintin (121.918) concluded the ten fastest racers in what was without doubt one of the most entertaining and high quality, opening Supersport TT practice sessions of modern times.
Photo by Mark Corlett
It all bodes well for the Monster Energy Supersport races in early June which by the looks of this evening’s action is certain to be fiercely contested in the battle to become the middleweight class champ, on the fabled Mountain Course.
Supersport TT Practice Lap Speeds:
1 Dean Harrison 125.797
2 Michael Dunlop 125.741
3 Conor Cummins 125.152
4 Dan Kneen 124.703
5 Peter Hickman 124.447
6 Lee Johnston 123.245
7 James Hillier 122.967
8 William Dunlop 122.755
9 Josh Brookes 122.109
10 Ivan Lintin 121.918
11 James Cowton 121.847
12 Derek McGee 121.611
13 Sam West 121.601
14 Daley Mathison 121.352
15 Ian Hutchinson 121.327
16 Dominic Herbertson 121.139
17 Martin Jessopp 120.309
18 Michael Sweeney 119.960
19 Shaun Anderson 119.800
20 Andy Dudgeon 119.642
21 Adam McLean 119.436
22 Phil Crowe 119.019
23 Craig Neve 118.787
24 Kamil Holan 117.802
25 Julian Trummer 117.750
26 Michael Evans 117.653
27 Darren Cooper 117.387
28 Joe Thompson 117.041
29 Matt Rees 117.034
30 Barry Evans 116.751
31 Paul Jordan 116.732
32 Dan Cooper 116.694
33 Adam Lyon 116.454
34 Dave Hewson 116.141
35 Steve Mercer 116.062
36 Rob Hodson 116.021
37 Raul Torras 115.546
38 Tom Weeden 115.236
39 Rhys Hardisty 115.109
40 Bjorn Gunnarsson 115.099
41 Xavier Denis 115.084
42 Adrian Harrison 114.944
43 Richard Charlton 114.903
44 Mark Parrett 114.773
45 Nick Anderson 114.569
46 Josh Daley 114.428
47 Chris Petty 114.293
48 Jonathan Perry 114.253
49 Jamie Williams 114.075
50 Paul Williams 113.916
51 Davy Morgan 113.730
52 Ian Pattinson 113.711
53 Mike Norbury 113.544
54 Mark Goodings 113.535
55 Julien Toniutti 113.355
56 Michael Booth 113.239
57 Justin Collins 112.933
58 Masayuki Yamanaka 112.231
59 Marc Ironside 112.101
60 Rob Whittall 112.100
61 Eric Wilson 111.600
62 Brian McCormack 111.473
63 Sam Johnson 110.620
64 Emmett Burke 110.407
65 Timothee Monot 109.814
Lightweight:
It’s fair to say no one expected this during the first practice session of TT 2018, an unofficial Lightweight class lap record from Michael Dunlop, lapping at 120.875 mph!, on the factory SC Project Paton.
Dunlop’s astonishing lap speed set on only his third lap of timed practice on the proven Paton mount, was almost matched by long time session pace setter Ivan Lintin, who’s lap speed of 120.660 mph was just over one second outside of his own official lap record.
Photo by Mark Corlett
Outside of Dunlop and Lintin’s eye catching lap speeds, KMR Kawasaki duo Derek McGee (117.571) and Peter Hickman (117.508) plus Italian TT hero Stefano Bonetti (117.119) and new KMR signing David Johnson (117.029) were all closely matched in finishing respectively third, fourth, fifth and sixth quickest.
Photo by Jim Gibson
Lightweight class returnee Ian Lougher (116.545) reminded everyone of his deft touch around the Mountain Course, by finishing a perhaps surprising to some seventh quickest in front of reigning Lightweight TT champion Michael Rutter (116.201).
Frohburg lap record holder Danny Webb (116.104) and Dan Cooper (115.024) rounded out tonight’s ten quickest qualifiers, others to impress included Michael Sweeney (114.523), Austria’s Julian Trummer (112.596) and Optimark Road Racing’s Xavier Denis (112.254).
Lightweight TT Practice Lap Speeds:
1 Michael Dunlop 120.875
2 Ivan Lintin 120.660
3 Derek McGee 117.571
4 Peter Hickman 117.508
5 Stefano Bonetti 117.119
6 David Johnson 117.029
7 Ian Lougher 116.545
8 Michael Rutter 116.201
9 Danny Webb 116.104
10 Dan Cooper 115.024
11 Rob Hodson 114.71
12 Michael Sweeney 114.52
13 John Barton 113.05
14 Barry Furber 112.64
15 Julian Trummer 112.60
16 Jamie Coward 112.27
17 Xavier Denis 112.25
18 Darren Cooper 111.49
19 Timothee Monot 111.35
20 Dave Moffitt 111.29
21 Adam McLean 111.21
22 Michael Evans 110.99
23 Richard Charlton 110.71
24 Jonathan Perry 110.68
25 Jamie Williams 110.23
26 Barry Evans 109.89
27 Marc Ironside 109.68
28 Andy Dudgeon 109.55
29 Maria Costello MBE 109.00
30 Pete Murray 108.66
31 Rob Whittall 108.42
32 Dave Madsen Mygdal 108.36
33 Ian Gardner 107.79
34 George Spence 107.58
35 Lee Hembury 107.33
36 Rad Hughes 107.05
37 Rikki McGovern 105.68
38 Wayne Axon 104.39
39 Alan Bud Jackson 101.09
40 Justin Collins 98.92
41 Nick Anderson 94.27
42 Gary Johnson 91.94
Newcomers:
You can only imagine what it must have felt like for the Mountain Course debutants this evening, from solo, Sidecar backgrounds after completing their first competitive lap of the Mountain Course.
A huge achievement for any racer of any ilk worldwide, out of tonight’s TT first timers it was Scotsman Adam Lyon (116.45) on his own teams YZF R6 Yamaha, who finished quickest solo newcomer.
Cookstown BE Racing’s Davey Todd lapping just a shade over the 116 mph mark, like fellow TT debutant Lyon impressed many with his application, pace and racing maturity.
Photo by Nick Wheeler
Third of the solo TT newcomers David ‘Action’ Jackson, will have to take in another speed controlled lap of the Mountain Course on Monday evening, having failed to complete his speed controlled lap tonight, having broke down at Ballig Bridge.
Words by Stevie Rial
