TT 2018: 131mph laps in first Superbike session

The sun continued to shine on the Isle of Man as the second night of practice got underway this evening. The session marked the first time the 1000cc machines hit the course in 2018 and riders were keen not to waste the glorious conditions.

It was Silicone Engineering’s Dean Harrison who set the pace and the Yorkshireman was on it from the very first lap, setting a 130.272mph lap from a standing start to kick off the evening’s proceedings.

Not even 15-time TT winner and lap record holder Michael Dunlop could better Harrison’s first lap, clocking 129.36mph on his opening lap for Tyco BMW.

Harrison’s session topping time would come on his second lap with a blistering average speed of 131.376mph, which he then followed up with a 131.272mph lap.

Switching to a second Tyco BMW ‘test’ machine, Dunlop clocked 131.087mph to place second quickest.

Peter Hickman sat third with 129.0mph after two laps on his Smiths BMW superbike before moving to his Superstock machine and recording a 130.219mph lap to top the Superstock times ahead of Conor Cummins and Dan Kneen.

Kneen posted the fourth quickest Superbike time with 128.788mph ahead of David Johnson on the Gulf BMW at 127.686mph.

James Hillier was sixth quickest with a 127.300mph lap ahead of Ivan Lintin, while Ian Hutchinson clocked 125.843mph on his first night with Honda Racing. Jamie Coward and Josh Brookes rounded out the top ten.

Ivan Lintin was the quickest of the riders out on Supersport machinery with a 123.563mph lap ahead of Jamie Coward and Derek McGee.