By Early morning rain, fog and mist gave way to more glorious bright sunny weather greeting competitors for Thursday’s Superbike practice session at TT 2018.
Banking a new unofficial personal best lap speed of 132.806 mph, it was Smiths Racing’s Peter Hickman who powered his way to the top of this evening’s time sheets.
Photo by Jim Gibson
Showing the type of form that makes him so highly fancied for Superbike honours on Saturday, the seven times international road race winner who is noted for having a cool, calm approach to racing stated via Twitter about tonight’s competition.
“Few damp patches out there. It’s been a tough week it’s such a shame. But we are here to do a job, so we’ve got to do it for Dan.”
Second on the time sheets this evening behind Hickman was Padgetts Racing’s Conor Cummins (131.175), whilst practice week pace setter Dean Harrison with a standing start lap speed of 130.612 mph, finished fourth quickest.
Photo by Nick Wheeler
Under the circumstances, Tyco BMW’s Michael Dunlop performance tonight was nothing short of heroic. His standing start lap speed of 130.959 mph placed him third on the practice leader board, finishing almost three seconds clear of Silicone Engineering Racing’s Harrison.
Gulf BMW’s David Johnson (129.632) was fifth fastest, whilst Sixth quickest Josh Brookes dipped over the 129 mph mark as he showcased more of the potential of Norton’s new Mountain Course machine, the SG7.
Wrapping up the ten fastest Superbike mounted competitors from Thursday evening’s practice session were James Hillier (128.065), John Chapman Racing backed Phil Crowe (127.648) Bathams SMT Racing’s Michael Rutter (127.475) and Honda Racing’s Lee Johnston (127.232).
Practice results, are as follows:
1 Peter Hickman 132.806
2 Conor Cummins 131.175
3 Michael Dunlop 130.959
4 Dean Harrison 130.612
5 David Johnson 129.632
6 Josh Brookes 129.174
7 James Hillier 128.065
8 Phil Crowe 127.648
9 Michael Rutter 127.475
10 Lee Johnston 127.232
11 Martin Jessopp 127.100
12 Shaun Anderson 126.990
13 Sam West 126.983
14 Derek Sheils 126.785
15 Gary Johnson 126.771
16 Derek McGee 126.376
17 Ian Hutchinson 126.040
18 Jamie Coward 125.869
19 Ivan Lintin 125.712
20 Dominic Herbertson 125.591
21 Daley Mathison 125.144
22 Brian McCormack 124.573
23 Kamil Holan 124.571
24 Mark Parrett 124.530
25 James Cowton 124.519
26 Stefano Bonetti 124.444
27 Davey Todd 123.995
28 Michael Sweeney 123.800
29 Danny Webb 123.777
30 Ian Lougher 123.726
31 Rob Hodson 123.704
32 Craig Neve 123.664
33 Michael Evans 123.531
34 Darren Cooper 122.852
35 Frank Gallagher 122.745
36 Barry Evans 121.832
37 Michael Booth 121.810
38 Andy Dudgeon 121.404
39 Marc Ironside 121.004
40 David Jackson 120.982
41 Dave Hewson 120.806
42 Paul Jordan 120.776
43 Raul Torras 120.775
44 Jim Hodson 120.654
45 Adam Lyon 120.455
46 Bjorn Gunnarsson 120.016
47 Fabrice Miguet 119.610
48 Julien Toniutti 119.508
49 Richard Wilson 119.445
50 Davy Morgan 119.363
51 Ian Pattinson 119.347
52 Adrian Harrison 119.267
53 Eric Wilson 119.263
54 Rhys Hardisty 119.098
55 George Spence 118.763
56 Mark Goodings 118.735
57 Barry Furber 118.314
58 Richard Charlton 118.314
59 Tom Weeden 118.299
60 AJ Venter 118.213
61 Paul Williams 117.719
62 Josh Daley 117.594
63 Matt Mylchreest 117.120
64 Mike Norbury 115.984
65 Dave Madsen Mygdal 115.646
66 Michal Dokoupil 114.958
67 Rob Whittall 113.495
68 Chris Petty 112.515
Words by Stevie Rial
