Archibald and Jefferies dominate TT practice

TAS Suzuki team-mates Adrian Archibald and David Jefferies are crowding the top of the time sheets after yesterday’s fourth day of practice at the Isle of Man TT.

Archibald knocked John McGuinness off the top spot in the F1 class and then went on to take the fastest lap in the Junior class on his GSX-R600. Team-mate Jefferies then took his GSX-R1000 to the top spot in the 1000cc production class.

Archibald took his F1 GSX-R1000 round the Island at an average speed of 124.64mph making him the fastest rider on the Island this year by 0.6 seconds.

McGuinness took the second fastest time but said that the Monstermob team has managed to get rid of the high speed handling problems he has had with the Ducati and he is confident the bike will go even faster in the coming week.

Jason Griffiths, Sean Harris, and Ian Lougher occupied the next three places while Jefferies sat in sixth, thirty seconds down.

Jefferies made up for it in the 1000cc Production class taking his GSX-R1000 to a time of 18:28.13, almost eighteen seconds clear of Archibald in second place.

Richard Britton took his GSX-R1000 to the third fastest time but Jason Griffiths, fourth fastest on a Yamaha R1, and Philip Gilder, fifth fastest on a Honda Firblade, proved that it’s not just Suzuki riders that can sit at the top of the Production class table.

Archibald dominated again when he went out on his GSX-R600 Junior machine completing a 120.94mph lap, smashing Ian Lougher’s best lap speed from yesterday by almost 2mph.

Archibald was closely followed by the Valmoto Triumph of Jim Moodie on a 119.49mph lap leaving team boss Jack Valentine confident that the Daytona 600s will get a good result in the race on Wednesday.

Moodie’s team-mate Bruce Anstey lead the 600cc Production class just ahead of Ryan Farquhar on a Kawasaki ZX-6RR and Davy Morgan on the Yamaha R6. But no one managed to better the 118.06mph Archibald set on Monday.

In the lightweight class Richard Britton put in the fastest time on Wednesday evening but failed to beat 109.07mph set down by John Barton on Monday, while Michael Wilcox topped the Ultra Lightweight class again but his time was four seconds slower than the one he set on Tuesday.

Six riders crashed on the course last night but most received only minor injuries or were unhurt, while Jimmy Rodgers, who fell at Gooseneck last night and was taken to hospital, is reported to be comfortable and his injuries are not thought to be serious.

Click the link on the right to get the latest update from our first-time TT rider Chris McGovern as he prepares to race his RVF400 in the lighweight race. Or go to our TT discussion board to comment on the events so far.