McGuinness not happy despite lap best

John McGuinness posted the first 130mph lap of TT2012 during last night’s practice session on the Isle of Man. Ballymoney’s William Dunlop was the most impressive local rider, topping the Supersport timesheets after a blisteringly fast lap of 126.184mph — just four seconds outside the lap record on his Wilson Craig Honda. Morecambe man McGuinness set an opening lap of just over 127mph on his TT Legends Honda Superbike, but his second lap broke the seal on this year’s 130mph club, yet the affable TT legend claimed to be held up. “It wasn’t that perfect clean lap,” he said Super Mac. “There was another five or six seconds in there at least. I caught William [Dunlop] on his 600 and I also got caught up with Hutchy but it wasn’t their fault. At least we’re in the ballpark.” Eight time TT winner Bruce Anstey ended the session second fastest on his Padgetts Honda with a lap of 129.556mph, with in-form Aussie Cameron Donald third quickest, after a lap of 129.075mph. Guy Martin remains at the sharp end in the blue Riband class, taking his Tyco Suzuki round the 37.73-mile TT Circuit at 128.866mph. Michael Dunlop, who claimed to be having a few teething problems, was still able to record a lap of 127.546mph, with brother William on 126mph along with five time winner from 2010 Ian Hutchinson. William, as previously mentioned, is stamping his authority in the Supersport class, adding substantial pedigree to his NW200 middleweight victory. Despite still chasing his first TT victory, his consistency on Wilson Craig’s Honda has already installed him as a pre-race favourite. His brother Michael, back on his trusty R6 Yamaha, was also on form in the Supersport class, posting a lap of 124.521mph, albeit 14 seconds back on his older sibling. Manxman Dan Kneen was third fastest on a 600 Suzuki (122.359mph). It took just one lap on Clive Padgett’s Honda Fireblade for Bruce Anstey to post the fastest Superstock time in last night’s session at 17mins 50.73sec (126.856mph). Team-mates John McGuinness and Gary Johnson were just six seconds behind him. Ryan Farquhar was the fastest local man in the ’stock class just behind the Padgetts trio on 125.503mph, followed by Guy Martin (125.366mph) and Cameron Donald (124.386mph). Swan Yamaha’s Ian Hutchinson and Tyco Suzuki’s Conor Cummins, both back in action after injury, completed a handful of laps during the session but neither posted times to threaten the business end of the leaderboard. The session was again cut short and, with rain forecast for today, the current times should stand until Friday’s final practice.