Martin and Moly top Thursday's times
Despite a slight delay to the start of Thursday evening’s practice session at the 2008 Isle of Man TT, the competitors took full advantage of the good conditions.
After limited running on Tuesday due to poor conditions and the cancellation of Wednesday’s scheduled session, fingers had been crossed for Thursday’s session to go ahead.
And the wishes of fans and teams were answered by the sun beaming down on the Isle of Man all day.
Although roads closed on time, there was a short delay while medical crews dealt with a traffic accident involving a member of the public in Union Mills.
But at 6.40pm the penultimate session of practice week burst into life as Ryan Farquhar and Cameron Donald took to the track.
Next out were Keith Amor and Guy Martin, followed by Adrian Archibald and Gary Carswell.
Davy Morgan managed to get as far as the end of the pit lane before deciding to return to the paddock to make adjustments.
Hydrex Bike Animal Honda’s Martin was first to reach Glen Helen, covering the distance in just 4m 32.65s, an average speed of 128.073mph.
As both Martin and Relentless by TAS Suzuki rider Bruce Anstey clocked more than 186mph through the Unisys speed trap in Sulby, Morgan was getting ready to leave the Grandstand having swapped his Supersport mount for the Superstock machine.
As expected, Martin was the first to complete a lap, beating the time he set on Monday with a 17m 57.37s, an average speed of 126.191mph.
As Martin started his second lap, Anstey, Donald and Archibald were next to arrive back at the Grandstand.
At the end of a second lap, Martin had increased his average speed to 127.080mph. Then he pulled into the paddock to swap his Superbike for the Superstock machine.
John McGuinness, the 13-times TT winner, finally got his Padgett’s Honda Superbike up to speed after three laps, clocking an average 126.696mph speed.
Michael Dunlop made his 2008 TT debut on the Phase One Yamaha R1 he is taking over from the injured James McBride. After earlier saying he may miss the TT following the tragic death of his TT-winning father Robert at the North West 200, Michael decided to travel to the Isle of Man on Tuesday with his own machine and has since agreed to take over McBride’s place in the Phase One team.
However, his first practice session was interrupted by machine problems.
The outfit of 13-times TT winner Dave Molyneux and passenger Dan Sayle led the sidecars out for their practice session, followed by outright lap record holder Nick Crowe.
Moly and Sayle were by far the fastest of the evening, topping the times with a lap at a stunning 115.067mph average speed.
World Champions Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance, making their TT debut this year, recorded a fastest lap of 107.569mph.
The chequered flag fell at 8.50pm.
A full report, complete results and pictures from Thursday's practice session follows.
The final session of the 2008 TT practice week is schedule for Friday evening. The Mountain section is due to close at 5pm, with the rest of the roads due to close at 6pm and the first machine scheduled to leave the TT Grandstand in Douglas at about 6.20pm.