HARRISON SETS THE PACE IN THURSDAY QUALIFYING
The second qualifying session for this year’s Classic TT Races saw good conditions on Thursday afternoon and although several damp patches remained around the Mountain Course, they improved as the session wore on and that allowed the best laps of the week to be posted in almost all of the classes.
It was Nathan Harrison who was quickest with a lap of 124.721mph on the Greenall Racing Kawasaki in the Formula 1 class, just three tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Jamie Coward. Michael Dunlop MBE topped the Lightweight leaderboard after lapping at 116.470mph on the Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles Honda.
John McGuinness MBE (Winfield Paton), Joe Yeardsley (Ken Rutter Racing Honda), Michael Russell (Complete Plumbing Sessions Yamaha) and Joe Loughlin (G2 Technical Services Ltd Kawasaki) respectively were quickest in the Historic Senior, Historic Junior, Junior 600 and Ultra-Lightweight classes.
After a ten-minute delay, the Lightweight and Ultra-Lightweight got underway at 1.25pm and first away were Chris Moore, Rhys Hardisty, Ryan Whitehall, Michal Dokoupil and Paul Jordan with Dunlop following shortly afterwards. Moore was first to arrive at Glen Helen, but Dunlop was quickest from the Laycock Racing Yamaha of Jordan, the gap between the two just 0.235s.
Michael Dunlop MBE topped the Lightweight leaderboard after lapping at 116.470mph on the Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles Honda.
Dunlop had the quicker run to Ballaugh and stretched his advantage over Jordan to 5.56s where Dokoupil slotted into third ahead of Moore, Hardisty and Whitehall. The trend continued for the remainder of the lap and Dunlop’s opening lap of 114.446mph was 15.201s quicker than Jordan (112.999mph). Dokoupil remained in third (110.724mph) ahead of Whitehall (109.234), Moore (108.594mph), and Hardisty (108.314mph).
Moore, Hardisty and Whitehall continued for a second lap, and it was the latter who was quickest with his first 110mph+ lap on the 250cc two-stroke, 111.620mph. Moore also upped his pace and crossed the line at 111.336mph. Michael Grigson, a newcomer twelve months ago, improved to 103.856mph on his second lap. Dunlop returned to the course late in the session and ultimately bettered his first lap by 20s with a speed of 116.470mph second time around.
Speeds were also increasing in the Ultra-Lightweight class with Loughlin quickest at 108.552mph, 9.6s ahead of Paul Cassidy (107.721mph). They were followed by Owen Monaghan (107.235mph), Harley Rushton (106.247mph), Radley Hughes (103.904mph) and Joey Thompson (103.309mph). Tom Snow was again the fastest 125cc runner with a lap of 99.824mph.
Speeds were also increasing in the Ultra-Lightweight class with Loughlin quickest at 108.552mph
At 2.15pm, the Formula 1 and Junior 600 session got underway with Joe Yeardsley, Harrison, Julian Trummer, Michael Evans and Brian McCormack first away, all of whom were mounted on their 750cc Formula 1 machines. Wednesday’s pace setter Shaun Anderson only got as far as Quarter Bridge on the Stanford Racing by ARD Suzuki before stopping.
Harrison was quickest to Glen Helen, but it was close with Greenall Racing team-mate Coward only a second adrift as David Johnson slotted into third on the similar Steadplan Racing Kawasaki. Coward nosed ahead at Ballaugh, albeit by just a tenth of a second whilst Johnson was only 1.9s adrift in third as Dominic Herbertson, Mike Browne and McCormack occupied fourth to sixth.
Harrison was quickest to Glen Helen, but it was close with Greenall Racing team-mate Coward only a second adrift
As they completed their first lap, it was Harrison who was first to cross the line with a speed of 124.721mph, and that put him 2.3s ahead of Coward (124.453mph). They were followed by Herbertson (123.705mph), Johnson (123.655mph), McCormack (122.233mph) and Trummer (120.730mph). Dunlop, meanwhile, was a late starter on the Team Classic Suzuki and his opening lap was 123.876mph which put him third on the initial leaderboard.
Second time around and Coward (124.679mph) Johnson (124.495mph), Trummer (122.517mph), Conor Cummins (122.277mph) and Joey Thompson (119.833mph) were all quicker whilst Harrison was slightly slower than his first lap, with a second lap speed of 124.074mph
Speeds were also up in the Junior 600 class it was Russell who was again quickest
Speeds were also up in the Junior 600 class it was Russell who was again quickest, his lap of 117.194mph putting him 13.7s ahead of Tom Robinson (115.815mph), Cassidy (112.664mph) and Julien Cregniot (110.771mph). Rob Hodson had been on course to set the fastest lap of the session before stopping on the run from Ballaugh to Ramsey whilst late laps came in from Barry Furber (115.863mph) and Stephen Gorton (112.735mph).
As per Thursday afternoon, the final session was for the Historic Senior and Historic Junior machines with McGuinness lapping at 111.501mph on his first lap in the former to go quickest from Cummins (104.080mph), Furber (103.867mph) and Coward (102.275mph).
McGuinness increased his pace to 111.750mph on his second lap
McGuinness increased his pace to 111.750mph on his second lap whilst a late lap came in from Dean Harrison whose solitary lap on the Craven Classic Racing/Ted Woof Norton of 108.044mph placed him second quickest overall.
Seven-time TT winner Harrison had initially gone out on his Junior machine where a lap of 102.552mph placed him fourth quickest. It was Paul Jordan (Davies Motorsport Honda) who set the pace initially with a lap of 103.207mph, 8.3s quicker than Harrison (102.552mph).
They were ultimately upstaged by Yeardsley who lapped at 103.417mph second time around.
However, they were ultimately upstaged by Yeardsley who lapped at 103.417mph second time around. Team-mate Michael Evans also improved, to 103.149mph, which saw him split Jordan and Harrison with Harley Rushton (98.749mph) and Will Loder (97.284mph) completing the top six.
Qualifying for the 2026 Classic TT continues into Thursday evening, with Qualifying 3 set to commence at 6.30pm.
