Breaking TT News: Cameron Donald hits 131mph!

Cameron Donald set a new bench mark at the TT when he clocked the first-ever 131mph  lap on the 37.73mile Mountain course.

After a relatively quiet few days of practice the Aussie stamped his authority on the event with a 131.45mph lap late in tonight’s session on the Relentless Suzuki GSX-R1000 – and he could have gone even quicker with a clear road.

Donald said: “I was held up in places by a couple of riders. They weren’t slow guys it was just that they had good lines so it was hard to pass. I knew I must be on a quick lap because I noticed the helicopter was following me but once I’d passed the second guy I thought the best I could hope for was 129mph.”

Donald was sensational in last year’s TT but it was only tonight he really hit top form. He said: “We’ve just been steadily working on getting the set-up and it all came together tonight. There was so much grip out there and I’ll not be surprised to see other riders clocking 131mph laps.”

It was great evening for the Relentless Suzuki team with Bruce Anstey clocking 130.129mph on his second lap aboard the superbike. Typically the laid-back Kiwi took it all in his stride and said: “That’s okay…I was just cruisin’. I’m a lot happier with the bike tonight but we still need a little work on the shock to get it even better.”

Having set the pace in the previous evenings, John McGuinness was hindered by a misfire with his superbike. He clocked 130.171mph on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t just a night for sensational lap times in the superbike class. Michael Dunlop – in only his third TT – was well inside the Supersport lap record when he clocked an amazing 126.299mph lap, well inside Bruce Anstey’s 125.359mph  existing record establish last year.