Isle of Man TT: John McGuinness breaks 130mph in practice

John McGuinness set only the second ever 130mph lap of the Isle of Man TT Course when he lapped at 130.171mph during Wednesday evening’s practice session to again comfortably top the leaderboard.

The HM Plant Honda ace edged ever closer to his outright lap record and was just under two seconds adrift on a night where conditions were again ideal around the Mountain Course.

A relatively steady opening lap of 126.391mph saw him upstaged somewhat by Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda), Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) and Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) who all lapped above 127mph.

However, with clearer track in front of him second time around McGuinness topped the magical 130mph barrier despite riding half the lap with a shattered screen after headbutting it on landing at Ballaugh Bridge!

Behind McGuinness, it was again Martin who got anywhere close with a second lap of 129.168mph with the Lincolnshire rider saying, “The bike wasn’t so clever at the beginning of the week but we’ve been plugging away, making a few small changes each night and we’re definitely heading in the right direction.

“The handling was a fair way off but it’s a lot closer now to how I want it to be.”

Steve Plater on the second HM Plant Honda was also making strides forward and a lap of 128.453mph, his quickest ever, saw him slot into third.

Anstey, meanwhile, switched to his Superstock machine only to run into problems with the rear shock, and he reverted back to the big bike at the end of the session, posting another near 128mph lap.

Team-mate Cameron Donald was also in trouble at 115.981mph and it got worse on the 600cc Suzuki when it began smoking at Parliament Square.

The Supersport class saw one of the sensations of the night as Michael Dunlop took his Street Sweep/Marlow Construction Yamaha to within three seconds of Anstey’s lap record.

An opening lap of 123.826mph was impressive enough but a flying lap of 125.085mph was not only his best ever lap of the 37.73-mile course but also only the fourth time a 600cc machine has ever gone over 125mph.

As well as Anstey, only McGuinness and Martin have ever achieved this, both in the 2007 race.

Brother William also had an enjoyable night recording his first 120mph+ lap to slot in to fourth place on the Supersport leaderboard at 121.445mph but Michael had another frustrating night on the Norton though, this time pulling up at Braddan.

Meanwhile, Conor Cummins suffered a broken chain at Sulby but managed to get back to the Grandstand to sneak a lap in at the end on his Supersport machine.

Ian Hutchinson continued his strong practice form on the Padgetts Honda to top the Superstock class with a lap of 126.849mph just ahead of fellow Honda rider Keith Amor who, like Plater and Dunlop, also went quicker than ever before at 126.769mph.

Nick Crowe and Mark Cox led the F2 Sidecars away with Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle opting out of tonight’s session, happy with their current progress.

Crowe and Cox lapped at 116.063mph, the quickest of the week so far, to comfortably top the session from John Holden/Andy Winkle and Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance.

Olie Linsdell was lucky to escape with a suspected broken leg after crashing at high speed through the Glen Duff section.

Times:

Dainese Superbike TT
1 John McGuinness (HM Plant Honda) – 130.171mph
2 Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) – 129.168mph
3 Steve Plater (HM Plant Honda) – 128.453mph
4 Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda) – 127.963mph
5. Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 127.884mph
6 Ian Lougher (AIM Yamaha) – 126.825mph

Relentless Supersport TT
1 Michael Dunlop (Street Sweep Yamaha) – 125.085mph
2 Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda) – 122.976mph
3 Mats Nilsson (Team Blackhorse Yamaha) – 121.817mph
4 William Dunlop (CD Racing Yamaha) – 121.445mph
5 Keith Amor (Wilson Craig Honda) – 121.331mph
6 John McGuinness (HM Plant Honda) – 121.128mph

Royal London 360◦ Superstock TT
1 Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda) – 126.849mph
2 Keith Amor (Wilson Craig Honda) – 126.769mph
3 Carl Rennie (WA Corless/Jackson Racing Suzuki – 124.609mph
4 Adrian Archibald (AMA Racing Suzuki) – 124.315mph
5 Steve Plater (Padgetts Honda) – 123.726mph
6 Gary Johnson (Robinson Concrete Honda) – 123.458mph

Sure Sidecar TT
1 Nick Crowe/Mark Cox (HM Plant Honda) – 116.063mph
2 John Holden/Andy Winkle (Suzuki) – 112.344mph
3 Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance (Team Prof Dr Sallmon Suzuki) – 111.270mph
4 Phil Dongworth/Gary Partridge (WAS Autocentre Honda) – 110.689mph
5 Simon Neary/Stuart Bond (Suzuki) – 110.284mph
6 Conrad Harrison/Kerry Williams (Printing Roller Services Honda) – 109.443mph