The infamous ‘Manannan’s Cloak’ lifted around the Isle of Man allowing the second qualifying for the 2017 Classic TT presented by Bennetts to go ahead after Monday’s session was cancelled.
Ahead of the session, Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson advised competitors of a number of damp patches following the earlier rain, notably at Ginger Hall, Ramsey Hairpin, on the exit of the Bungalow, Graham’s, Hillberry and Governors Dip.
The session got away on time at 6.20pm and the Classic TT Superbike machines were first on the track. The machines lined up on the grid in the order that they will race in Monday’s Motorsport Merchandise Superbike Race with Australian David Johnson, carrying the number one plate on the Team York Suzuki, first away down the iconic Glencrutchery Road stretch of tarmac, although a number of riders switched order behind him.
Jamie Coward (4.41.492) was fastest to the first timing point at Glen Helen on the Mistral Racing Kawasaki a fraction of a second ahead of Dean Harrison, also Kawasaki mounted on the Silicone Engineering machine with Austrian Horst Saiger, who posted the fastest lap in Saturday’s opening session, five seconds behind the leading pair.
Lee Johnston (Team Classic Suzuki) and Bruce Anstey on the Padgetts Motorcycles YZR 500 Yamaha, on which he won the 2014 race, completed the top five at the opening timing point. However, Michael Dunlop on the Team Classic Suzuki was reported as an early retirement at Ballacraine on his opening lap of the meeting.
Coward’s lap of 120.824 was the fastest opening lap but Anstey was on the pace with a 119.724 and it was clear that the Kiwi was finding his feet as he was twenty seconds quicker on his second lap to Glen Helen.
Anstey (121.932) duly posted the fastest lap of the session on his second lap with Ivan Lintin (121.094) on the Kraus Racing Kawasaki and Derek Shiels (121.04) and Horst Saiger (120.89) - both on Greenall Racing Kawasaki’s – all going over the 120mph mark, as did David Johnson (120.11).
In the Lightweight Class, Ian Lougher on the Laylaw Racing Yamaha (113.994) topped the board. Bruce Anstey, last year’s race winner, went out later in the session on his Padgetts Motorcycles.com Honda after his Superbike exploits and clocked a 113.010 with Dan Sayle on the Steelcote Solutions Yamaha also going well with 112.131.
Chris Moore (110.601) on the Dafabet Devitt Racing Yamaha and Gary Vines (110.130) on the Online Lubricants Yamaha completed the top five in the Lightweight class for the session. Michael Dunlop, after his earlier Superbike retirement, posted his first lap of the meeting with a 102.656 on the Turner Racing Yamaha
It was then the turn of the Senior and Junior machines and Dominic Herbertson on the Davies Motorsport Honda was quickly on the pace with an opening lap of 104.606 in the Senior session which ultimately proved to be the fastest lap of the class, less than two seconds quicker than James Cowton on the Dave Kenah Racing Norton (104.476) with Dean Harrison, the 2015 Race winner, on the Black Eagle Racing MV Agusta third fastest 500cc machine on the night with a lap of 103.397.
Experienced campaigner Phil McGurk on the Chris Hughes Honda was just shy of a 100mph lap with 99.967 but was nevertheless the quickest in the Junior session from Jamie Coward who followed up a strong Superbike lap with the second fastest Junior lap (99.397) with Alan Oversby, who finished third in the 2014 Junior Classic TT Race, completing the top three on the night
New Zealand rider Grant Dalton came off at the Verandah but was unhurt in the Superbike session while Elwyn Fryer at Parliament Square and Dean Osborne at Governors dip were also reported to be without injury after accidents in the same session.