Archibald’s practice pace raises Honda TT hopes

In almost perfect conditions Adrian Archibald blasted to the top of the timing sheets with a 122.95mph lap on his Formula One Red Bull Honda Fireblade.

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Unofficially, this beats his best time by over 11 seconds and a lap speed of his previous best of 121.78 set in the 2000 Senior TT. Honda is desperate to cling on to the title, won by Joey Dunlop in 2000 and this will be a massive boost.

Behind him Jim Moodie’s V&M Yamaha R1 was almost thirty seconds slower at 119.94mph over the 37.73-mile course.

The best David Jefferies’ could manage on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 was 117.56mph, behind TAS team-mate Ian Lougher and the McAdoo Suzuki of TT newcomer Ryan Farquhar.

But Jefferies made amends in the 1000cc Production, with 121.48mph, romping past the previous best of 113.10mph by Iain Duffus, set on Saturday evening.

Honda’s John McGuinness displaced Jefferies in the 600cc Junior at 115.35mph compared to the Yorkshireman’s 113.60mph on Saturday.

Moodie went to the top of the Production 600 at 115.51mph, overtaking Archibald’s early 110.76mph effort.

Bruce Anstey set out his intentions early for the Lightweight 250 trophy with a 115.87mph lap, relegating the previous best of Shaun Brown’s 106.03mph set on Saturday.

In the sidecars, Ian Bell and Neil Carpenter put Yamaha back on top at 108.61mph, better by second-and-a-half than previous class leaders Rob Fisher and Rick Long.