Davey Todd was the man on the move during Wednesday evening’s qualifying session at the Isle of Man TT Races, with the Milwaukee BMW Motorrad rider topping both the Superbike and Superstock leaderboards at 131.821mph and 130.439mph respectively.
Michael Dunlop was quickest in the Supersport class at 126.917mph, this time on his MD Racing with Jamie Coward the pacesetter in the Supertwin class on his KTS Racing powered by KW Electrical/Steadplan Kawasaki at 119.285mph. In the Sidecar class, it was again the Manx pairing of Ryan and Callum Crowe who were quickest at an increased speed of 118.814mph.
The Superbike/Superstock session was the first to take to the Mountain Course this evening where conditions were bright and sunny albeit breezy. It was Dean Harrison (Honda Racing UK) and Coward (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan Honda) who were first away followed by James Hillier (WTF Racing Honda), Ian Hutchinson (Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles Honda), Todd and Josh Brookes (Monster Energy BMW by FHO Racing).
Both Michael Rutter (Bathams Ales BMW) and Conor Cummins (Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles Honda) were slow to get away and Harrison was also having issues, the Honda man slow through each sector and eventually pulling in at Parliament Square.
Coward was first to complete a lap at 128.220mph on his Superstock machine but Todd quickly followed him and was considerably quicker on his Superbike at 131.821mph. Dunlop (Hawk Racing Honda) was also over the 130mph barrier at 130.342mph and he was followed by Peter Hickman (129,339mph) and Brookes (129.007mph). Hillier was the quickest Superstock machine with a lap of 128.318mph.
Todd opted to go straight through with Coward, Dunlop, Hickman and Hillier amongst those to pull in, whilst Brookes also continued for a second lap on his Superbike and posted 205.098mph through the Sulby speed trap.
Todd was slightly slower on his second lap with a speed of 131.745mph with Brookes slightly quicker than his opening lap with a speed of 129.205mph but he was overhauled by John McGuinness (129.269mph) who went fourth quickest in the Superbike class. David Johnson was also going well on the Platinum Club Kawasaki (128.348mph), which put him sixth on the Superbike leaderboard but Dunlop closed to within 0.7seconds of Todd with a second lap of 131.729mph.
Hickman, meanwhile, went quickest in the Superstock class with a lap of 129.723mph – that put him 7seconds ahead of Coward who upped his pace to 128.844mph only for Todd to overhaul them both with a speed of 130.349mph. Cummins finally got his first lap done too with a speed of 126.961mph before moving third quickest with a lap of 129.286mph. After his earlier troubles, Harrison went fourth on the leaderboard with a speed 129.226mph.
Newcomer Patrick Hoff was improving steadily too with a lap of 117.546mph before recording 118.839mph later in the session whilst Hickman managed to get another lap on his Superbike where he lapped at 130.804mph.
At 7.25pm, it was the turn of the Supersport/Supertwin session and Dunlop immediately went quickest (126.034mph) with Coward (125.674mph) only 3s slower on his Triumph. They were followed by Hickman (123.581mph), Paul Jordan (123.485mph), Mike Browne (123.248mph) and Harrison (122.855mph) with Croatian newcomer Loris Majcan completing his first lap at 111.982mph after retiring on the opening lap of Monday’s session.
Dunlop improved to 126.917mph second time around with Todd (124.054mph) going third on the leaderboard after his first lap on the Powertoolmate Ducati before improving to 125.063mph on his second lap. Harrison (124.811mph) and Jordan (123.947mph) also increased their speed.
Pierre-Yves Bian was quickest on the opening lap on the Supertwins (116.930mph) followed by last year’s Senior Manx Grand winner Joe Yeardsley (114.687mph) and Michael Russell (114.411mph) but Browne upstaged all of them with a lap of 118.069mph putting him quickest on the Scott Racing Aprilia. He didn’t stay there long though as firstly Rob Hodson on the SMT Racing Paton (118.163mph) and then Coward (119.285mph) overhauled him, the latter ending the session quickest ahead of Hickman who posted a late lap of 118.851mph.
Founds/Walmsley were again first away in the Sidecars, whose session started at 8.10pm, but they were overhauled on the Mountain climb by the Crowes, and it was the Manx pairing who were quickest on the opening lap at 118.814mph - their quickest ever lap on the Mountain Course.
Founds/Walmsley (117.837mph) were second followed by Birchall/Rousseau (116.398mph), Crawford/Hardie (112.987), Reeves/Wilkes (112.985mph) and Blackstock/Rosney (112.522mph) with newcomers Ellis/Clement (110.830mph) slotting into eighth after their first 110mph+ lap.
Birchall/Rousseau upped their pace to an impressive 118.271mph before the session was curtailed by a red flag.
WORDS: Phil Wain