Isle of Man TT aces star in latest road race outing
Stars of the Isle of Man TT were to the fore at the first practice for the North West 200, showing their form with less than two weeks to go until the start of the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy.
The road race event is the first International of the season and is seen as a gauge of who will star at the TT. Most of the major stars expected to race on the Mountain course during its centenary celebrations are in Northern Ireland for the NW200, although 15-times TT winner John McGuinness and Honda TT Legends teammate Keith Amor are absent as they are contesting the second round of the World Endurance Championship in Spain this weekend.
As expected, Alastair Seeley, a double winner at the North West last year, led the way in Tuesday evening’s Superbike practice session.
However, TT veteran Michael Rutter was less than a second behind in second place. Gary Johnson, Stephen Thompson and Guy Martin put in the fourth, fifth and sixth fastest times respectively.
Brothers William and Michael Dunlop were seventh and eighth, although Michael seemed to be having problems with his Street Sweep Kawasaki Superbike and only managed four laps, his final tour proving the fastest. With only one qualifying lap completed, he must set another in tomorrow’s session to make Saturday’s race.
There were more star TT names next, with Adrian Archibald ninth, Bruce Anstey 11th and Cameron Donald 13th.
Two-times TT winner Ryan Farquhar, forced to run his KMR Kawasaki Superstock machine in the Superbike session, suffered clutch problems and was well off the pace.
Seeley was fastest on the Superstock class, but just 0.045 of a second ahead of Michael Dunlop. Brother William had set the early pace, but had to settle fourth fastest behind Rutter. He was, however, ahead of TT veterans Ian Lougher and Archibald. The top six were split by just 1.4 seconds.
Double TT winner Cameron Donald, who is with Wilson Craig Honda after leaving the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team, topped the Supersport times, a tenth of a second ahead of Seeley. Michael Dunlop was third, with Johnson, Anstey and Martin making up the top six.
Anstey, now with Padgetts Honda, stunned many with a blistering 170mph top speed through the speed trap, the highest Supersport speed recorded on the evening.
Lougher and Farquhar completed the session seventh and eighth, with Portuguese star Luis Carreira 10th.
William Dunlop endured a torrid session, with only two low-speed laps completed and in need of a good day tomorrow to qualify.
Manxman Conor Cummins made his first appearance on the roads since his crash during the 2010 Senior TT, and made steady progress to finish 19th fastest in the Superstock class, 16th on the Superbike and 11th in the Supersports for McAdoo Kawasaki.
Practice continues on Thursday, with the five-race programme scheduled for Saturday – just over a week before practice begins at the TT.