Dunlop sets pace on tricky night

After it was feared rain and low-lying cloud may disrupt TT practice, conditions improved in time to allow the penultimate session to start, but a crash quickly brought matters to a halt. When the Supersport and Lightweight machines went out they only managed one lap before red flags went out on the first section of the course following an incident at Sarah’s Cottage that required an ambulance to transfer injured German rider Stefan Holz to helicopter for transportation to hospital. It was later revealed Holz had an arm injury. Fastest on the one lap completed was William Dunlop on his Supersport machine at 124.650mph, almost nine seconds faster than Bruce Anstey at 123.649mph with Gary Johnston third a 10th of a second slower at 123.638mph. Guy Martin was fourth fastest on his Tyco Suzuki by TAS. Martin said: “That was my first run out on the 600 bike after I smashed it to bits at the North West. “It never missed a beat. There were a few damp patches out there but the flags were in the right places and no problems.” Michael Dunlop was unhappy after ending the lap seventh fastest on his Yamaha. “Things are getting worse with problems, problems and problems,” he said. “It’s like beating my head against a brick wall with little things playing against us. One more night to the first race and I could do with a lot more time on superbike especially.” Ian Lougher topped the Lightweight single lap times at 113.023mph ahead of James Hillier and Michael Rutter. After a 20-minute delay Superbikes, Supersport and Superstock machines were on track and William Dunlop went faster on his Wilson Craig Supersport Honda at 125.467mph with brother Michael, getting his first flying lap after stopping at Ramsey to remove loose tape from his fairing, second fastest at 124.370mph on his Yamaha. With times slightly slower than previous evenings Anstey was fastest Superbike at 128.815mph, six seconds ahead of Rutter at 128.072mph with Martin third at 126.939mph and Michael Dunlop on his final lap of the evening slipping into fourth position with a circuit of 126.577mph ahead of Johnston and Ian Hutchinson. John McGuinness, who still tops the overall fastest times of the week at over 130mph set on Wednesday night, was seventh quickest during last night’s session. Johnston topped the Superstock times with a speed of 125.206mph ahead of Ryan Farquhar on 124.630mph, Dan Kneen (123.855mph) and William Dunlop (123.514mph). In the sidecar session 14-time winner Dave Molyneux set the fastest speed of the week on his second lap at 113.538mph, 14 seconds ahead of Tim Reeves (112.218mph), Gary Bryan (110.781) and Conrad Harrison (110.496mph). Dave Lindley and Leon Fitzpatrick crashed at Kirkmichael with the latter taken to hospital with minor injuries.