DUNLOP TOPS SUPERSPORT AS HARRISON’S FORM CONTINUES
Weather conditions were again ideal for the third qualifying session at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races but there was no change to the pecking order as Dean Harrison was once more the fastest man in the session, a lap of 133.712mph coming on his Honda Racing Superbike machine.
In a change from previous sessions, Nathan Harrison was first away on his H&H Motorcycles Honda and, like the afternoon session, most of the field started on their Superstock machines, the main exceptions being the ‘big three’ of Dean Harrison, Michael Dunlop and Peter Hickman.
“We’ve made a few tweaks to the Superbike to make it a bit easier to ride but the sun will be difficult, so the plan is to have two steady laps,” said pace setter Dean Harrison just before he set off.
As Harrison suggested, riders would again need to be wary of the evening sun, but Jamie Coward was a notable, and disappointed, absentee after the Superstock engine on his Rapid Honda expired in the earlier afternoon qualifying session.
Dunlop appeared to have struck trouble on the first nine miles as his sector time to Glen Helen was more than half a minute slower than Dean Harrison’s but whatever the issue, his sector time to Ballaugh wasn’t much slower than his fellow Honda rider.
Peter HIckman remain's Dean Harrison's closest challenger in the Superbike class
However, things were clearly still awry as his lap speed was down at 127.869mph, which was well down on the pace-setting Harrison who lapped at 133.712mph from a standing start to further strengthen his position as the pre-race favourite. Hickman was increasing his speed though, a lap of 132.039mph placing him second on the Superbike leaderboard.
Josh Brookes on the DAO Racing Honda was also going well, and it was the Australian who was quickest in the Superstock class on the opening lap, a speed of 131.943mph putting him ten seconds clear of Ian Hutchinson (130.691mph) and Nathan Harrison (130.240mph). The Manxman was the last rider to break the 130mph barrier on the first lap.
Ian Hutchinson set a 130.691mph lap to set the second fastest time in Superstock
It was no surprise to see Dunlop pit immediately before heading back out on his Superstock BMW and although he’d planned to do two laps on his Superbike, Hickman also stopped to switch to his Superstock machine. Dunlop’s evening went from bad to worse though, as he immediately pulled off the course at Quarterbridge to head back to the Grandstand and with issues with both bikes, his session was over.
Back on course, Harrison’s speed was increasing on his Superbike, as it was for Brookes and McGuinness on their Superstock Hondas. As he encountered some traffic, however, Dean’s second lap was slower than his first at 132.477mph. McGuinness’s lap of 129.357mph was his quickest of the week so far on his Superstock Honda.
Hickman’s Superstock lap was 129.273mph as he too encountered traffic but both he and McGuinness pitted before soon being on their way again, this time on their Superbikes. Hickman’s lap of 131.404mph was slower than his lap earlier in the session but he remained second quickest on the Superbike leaderboard behind Dean Harrison.
At 7.20pm, it was the start of the Supersport/Sportbike session with Dunlop first away on the Scars Racing Ducati and with strong times in each sector, his opening lap of 128.764mph was almost 24 seconds quicker than second placed Dean Harrison (125.960mph) with Paul Jordan (125.227mph) in third.
Dunlop pressed on for a second lap, and he crossed the line with an improved speed of 129.557mph, no doubt a relief for the Ulsterman after his earlier troubles. Hickman got out for a lap on his Swan Triumph by PHR Performance and placed seventh behind Dunlop, Dean Harrison, Jordan, Brookes, Mike Browne and Dominic Herbertson. A strong performance came in from Joey Thompson too as he placed eighth fastest on the TH Racing Honda after recording his fastest ever Supersport lap.
Meanwhile, the Sportbike class saw Jamie Coward again run strongly on the Milenco by Padgetts Paton and he topped the leaderboard with a lap of 119.832mph. That put him well clear of Herbertson (117.685mph) in second with Czech Republic rider Michal Dokoupil putting in a good lap of 117.437mph to place third, although they swapped positions second time around as Dokoupil improved to 117.713mph.
Jamie Coward went fastest in Sportbike on his Paton after missing the big bike session
At 8.15pm, the last track action of the day saw the Sidecars out once more, but the session was less than five minutes old when the red flag was displayed and the session stopped. That brought an end to the day’s proceedings and with Thursday being a well-earned rest day for the competitors, the next qualifying session is scheduled to commence at 10.30am on Friday.
Ryan and Callum Crowe were confirmed to have come off the road at Crosby. Both rider and passenger were reported as conscious and talking and were taken to Noble’s Hospital by ambulance for further assessment of injuries.
A separate incident also occurred earlier on in the session at Doran's Bend. A further update will be issued in due course.
