Solos set for thrilling Dainese Superbike Race while Rutter reclaims unofficial SESTT Zero crown
With two full practice sessions sandwiching yesterday's opening Formula Two Sidecar race, it was a busy day for the solo competitors at the 2013 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy. Michael Dunlop set the leaderboard alight with a stunning lap of 130.895mph, his fastest lap ever of the Mountain Course in Superbike qualifying ahead of today's Dainese Superbike Race.
The fast times came in the morning’s session after a slight sprinkling of rain fell on the west coast of the Island mid-afternoon and Dunlop’s lap was six seconds quicker than that of Honda TT Legends team-mate John McGuinness who was the only other rider to break the 130mph barrier with a lap of 130.106mph.
Dunlop’s opening lap of 129.68mph was almost matched by Gary Johnson, the Lincolnshire rider’s lap of 129.611mph placing him third on the overall leaderboard whilst Bruce Anstey’s lap from Thursday afternoon of 129.144mph was good enough for fourth overall. Meanwhile, Guy Martin, Michael Rutter and James Hillier all posted their best lap of the week on Saturday morning, all three over 128mph.
Milwaukee Yamaha team-mates Conor Cummins and William Dunlop lapped almost exactly at the same pace, 127.339mph and 127.337mph respectively, with Cameron Donald completing the top ten at 126.964mph. Fast times also came from Dean Harrison (125.362) and Shaun Anderson (125.156) with Josh Brookes going 15th overall on the leaderboard with a stunning lap of 124.476mph.
With most riders concentrating on the Superbikes, a number of them only put in a solitary lap on the Superstock bikes and it was Martin who topped the leaderboard on 127.023mph. Rutter placed second on 125.248mph with Anderson’s time placing him third overall in the class, a superb effort by the Banbridge man. Steve Mercer, McGuinness, Harrison, Simon Andrews, Ben Wylie and Hillier completed the top ten.
The Supersport class saw nearly all of the fastest laps of the week set on Saturday morning, Michael Dunlop again the quickest on his PTR Honda, his lap of 125.146mph slightly quicker than the time he set on Thursday evening. It was a Honda 1-2-3 with McGuinness and Anstey the only two other riders lapping in excess of 124mph, William Dunlop on the Yamaha breaking their stranglehold in fourth. Meanwhile, Johnson set an impressive lap of 123.516mph on the ValMoto MV Agusta.
Young guns Harrison and Dan Cooper took eighth and ninth with former Manx GP competitor Jamie Coward going great guns in 13th at 120.304mph.
The Lightweight machines were also out in force on Saturday, their session in the afternoon coming just before the drizzle began to fall and it was Hillier who ended up quickest on the Quattro Plant Kawasaki, his lap of 115.665mph inside the lap record set last year by Rutter. Back on board the KMR Kawasaki, Rutter was second fastest, four seconds behind Hillier with Ivan Lintin again impressing in third on 114.341mph.
Jamie Hamilton on a second KMR Kawasaki ended the week in fourth overall just ahead of Michael Dunlop, his lap from last Saturday keeping him in fifth. Harrison, Ian Lougher, Lee Johnston, Cummins and Donald completed the top ten.
Meanwhile McGuinness and Rutter went head-to-head in SES TT Zero practice
at the end of the The TT legends continued to challenge one another in last night’s practice session, both setting 107mph laps. Rutter led the eight-strong group of riders out in the session with a time of 20:59.806 (107.82mph) but McGuinness was hot on his heels with a time of 21:07.011 (107.20mph). Not too far behind the leading pair was American MotoCzysz rider Mark Miller, who lapped the Mountain course in 21:41.072 (104.40mph). George Spence for Kingston University (27:10.201, 83.32mph), Chris McGahan for Vercarmoto (28:04.839, 80.62mph), Ian Lougher for Komatti Mirai (30:22.822, 74.52mph), Paul Owen for Brunel University (30:52.872, 73.31mph) and Robert Barber for Buckeye (32:18.559, 70.07mph) rounded out the field of SES TT Zero riders in the session.