TT 2017: Supersport race cancelled as schedule rejigged again

The second Supersport race at the 2017 Isle of Man TT has been cancelled after heavy rain on Thursday.

Announcing the decision, Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson confirmed the four lap Monster Energy Supersport race wouldn’t be rescheduled as TT bosses face a fight against time as they try to run the remainder of the schedule on Friday.

Bad weather has thwarted the 2017 races with four practice sessions lost to rain, mist or wind. This led to a re-jig of the race schedule, with the plan then to run races on each day.

The Superbike race got away on Sunday with the opening Supersport and Sidecar races taking place on Monday. The Superstock battle was pencilled in for Tuesday but this then had to be moved due to inclement conditions, meaning the four lapper would go ahead on Wednesday morning ahead of the Lightweight and TT Zero races.

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However, a red flag in Superbike qualifying on Wednesday afternoon would bring an early end to action and with rain again on Thursday, TT bosses were left with just one day to run the remaining four races.

Given the Supersport riders have already been out once this week, Thompson made the difficult call to cancel the second race as he put together yet another revised schedule.

“It’s not been an easy week with the weather,” Thompson told MCN. “We have made the decision to cancel the Supersport race as we cannot have a six lap Senior and four lap Supersport race on the same day.”

The TT Zero race will now open proceedings on Friday ahead of the second Sidecar race with the Senior TT now planned to set off at 13:15. 

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