Lower speeds in final practice at 2009 Isle of Man TT
The final practice of the 2009 Isle of Man TT was a subdued affair after the fast-paced and scintillating evening sessions fans have been treated to this year.
Conditions were very different from other nights on Friday, with lower temperatures and a strong wind. There had been fears the session could be hit by rain, but instead there was sun and a blue sky, albeit with some cloud cover.
The star of Thursday night practice Cameron Donald and Manxman Conor Cummins were the first away. After Cummins came through with an average speed of 127.020mph, Honda-mounted Gary Johnson upped the pace with a 127.794mph.
Still basking in the glory of his unofficial lap record 131.457mph from Thursday, Donald was out on the TAS Suzuki superstock and had looked on course for a good lap. TT Live! Subscribers watched him average 127.5mph to Glen Helen, upping his pace to 133mph by Ballaugh, blasting through the Sulby speed trap at 178mph and reaching Ramsey Hairpin at an average speed of more than 137mph.
However, word soon filtered through that Donald had come off at Keppel Gate and been taken to hospital by airmed – an update on his condition is expected later.
The practice continued, with Cummins putting in another encouraging lap on his Kawasaki superbike, this time at 127.588mph, marginally faster than Ian Hutchinson had managed on the Padgetts Honda superbike.
However, neither could touch Johnson’s time from his first lap, which was good enough for second place.
With Donald out, his teammate Bruce Anstey not taking part in the session and John McGuinness not pushing on the superbike, honours for fastest speed of the night went to Hydrex Honda’s Guy Martin.
He set an average time of 129.013mph on his second lap out, and was fastest through Sulby with a 187.5mph.
James Hillier produced one of the surprises of the evening, notching up a 186.9mph through the Sulby speed trap, the fastest superstock of the night.
However, the fastest superstock lap of the night went to Honda’s Steve Plater, at an average 126.938mph, 1mph faster than second-placed Hutchinson.
McGuinness was fourth in the class with a 123.873mph.
Plater was also on form on the supersport, with a 123.162mph, but the Yamaha R6 of William Dunlop topped the timesheets 123.345mph.
When the sidecar session got under way it was Manxmen Dave Molyneux and Nick Crowe led the field away, followed by the outfits of John Holden, Tim Reeves and Klaus Klaffenboch.
Crowe and passenger Mark Cox were first through, with a 114.442mph. With Moly and Dan Sayle only lapping at 101.07mph and pulling in, it took Crowe’s rivals a little time to get close to his early time, but no one could better it.
Phil Dongworth and Gary Partridge came closest with a 113.355mph, followed by Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance with a 112.09mph. Reeves and Farrance did have the honour of fastest Sulby speed trap time, at 143.4mph.
At the end of the final session it was announced a decision will be taken at 7.30am on Saturday about the schedule for the first race day of the 2009 TT, which could be impacted by the poor weather predicted.