Isle of Man TT: McGuinness continues blistering pace

John McGuinness again topped the leaderboard after the third night of practice for the 2009 Isle of Man TT Races and, with a lap of 129.661mph, the HM Plant Honda rider came within six seconds of his own outright lap record.

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Quickest on his first lap, at just under 127mph, he then went quicker again on his second and with speeds like this so early in proceedings, his record speed of 130.354mph is sure to be smashed come race day if the conditions are good.

The 14-times winner said: “It was a good, clean lap and conditions were better again. The sun wasn’t so bad whilst there was more rubber on the track.

“It took me a while to get by Michael (Rutter) and Steve (Plater) and so if it hadn’t been for that, it would probably have been over 130mph.

“I’m feeling really confident and the bike’s working so well, it’s allowing me to jump on it and ride it at a nice pace.”

Conditions were ideal with the strong sun that had caused problems on both Saturday and Monday having subsided.

Instead, a small amount of cloud moved in across the Island to shield the glare and, with the temperature having dropped a couple of degrees, a perfect evening lay ahead.

Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) is edging closer to the front and was second quickest tonight whilst Ian Hutchinson was third on his Padgetts Honda having suffered a crank sensor problem the previous evening, the same problem that caused McGuinness to retire from the Superbike race 12 months ago.

McGuinness was also quickest in the Supersport class, the first time he’d been out on the 600cc machine this week.

His lap of 123.107mph was quickest of the week so far in the middleweight class with Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) and Mats Nilsson (Team Blackhorse Yamaha) second and third this evening.

Aussie ace Cameron Donald topped the Superstock class on his Relentless by TAS Suzuki at 126.436mph, over 2mph quicker than what he’d gone on his Superbike although both he and Anstey appeared to slow on their second laps, perhaps ‘sandbagging’ over the final few miles.

Martin was again second quickest in the Superstock division with Gary Johnson (Robinson Concrete Honda) in third.

Nick Crowe and Mark Cox again led the sidecars away and the HM Plant Honda duo put in two flying laps for the first time this week, the quickest at 115.164mph, to top the leaderboard for the Sure Sidecar class 

Times:

Dainese Superbike TT
1 John McGuinness (HM Plant Honda) – 129.661mph
2 Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) – 128.294mph
3 Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda) – 127.271mph
4 Adrian Archibald (AMA Racing Suzuki) – 126.806mph
5 Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 126.561mph
6 Keith Amor (Wilson Craig Honda) – 125.924mph

Relentless Supersport TT
1 John McGuinness (HM Plant Honda) – 123.107mph
2 Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 121.660mph
3 Mats Nilsson (Team Blackhorse Yamaha) – 121.377mph
4 Ian Lougher (Team Blackhorse Yamaha) – 121.138mph
5 Steve Plater (HM Plant Honda) – 120.992mph
6 Olie Linsdell (Flitwick Yamaha) – 120.900mph

Royal London 360◦ Superstock TT
1 Cameron Donald (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 126.436mph
2 Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) – 125.245mph
3 Gary Johnson (Robinson Concrete Honda) – 124.942mph
4 Keith Amor (Wilson Craig Honda) – 124.872mph
5 Conor Cummins (McAdoo Racing Kawasaki) – 124.786mph
6 Steve Plater (Padgetts Honda) – 124.372mph

Sure Sidecar TT
1 Nick Crowe/Mark Cox (HM Plant Honda) – 115.164mph
2 Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle (A&J Racing Suzuki) – 114.082mph
3 Klaus Klaffenbock/Darren Hope (Manx Gas Racing Honda) – 112.242mph
4 John Holden/Andy Winkle (Suzuki) – 111.474mph
5 Phil Dongworth/Gary Partridge (WAS Autocentre Honda) – 110.789mph
6 Gary Bryan/Robert Bell (Yamaha) – 108.848mph