TT pace intensifies as Donald goes 131mph

Cameron Donald was the sensation of Thursday evening’s practice for the Isle of Man TT races when he unofficially smashed the outright lap record with a speed of 131.457mph.

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The Relentless by TAS Suzuki rider has had his fair share of technical issues so far this week but it all cane good on his final lap this evening and his time of 17m13.25s was over eight and half seconds inside McGuinness’ mark set in the 2007 Senior race.

It was a good night all round for the TAS boys with Donald’s team-mate Bruce Anstey having earlier become only the second man to lap the Mountain Course in excess of 130mph with a lap of 130.129mph, slightly slower than McGuinness’ lap  on Wednesday evening.

The HM Plant Honda rider was unable to go quicker this evening after suffering a misfire on his first lap, lapping at 110.27mph, and then encountering traffic on his final lap. However, he did lap at 123.867mph on his Supersport machine.

Ian Hutchinson was also showing some good form on his Padgetts Honda at 129.027 with Steve Plater not too far behind at 128.982. Also going well was American ace Mark Miller who lapped at 124.157, comfortably his best ever lap.

The Supersport sensation was again Michael Dunlop who, like Donald, was comfortably inside the class lap record. His second lap on the Street Sweep/Marlow Construction Yamaha of 126.290 was some way quicker than Anstey’s record lap of 125.359 set 12 months ago.

However, Hutchinson showed he would be a major contender in the two Relentless Supersport races too with a lap of 125.182.

Privateer Carl Rennie again proved his TT credentials with a lap of 126.252mph to top the Superstock class just ahead of Guy Martin and Conor Cummins whilst the fastest newcomers were former British Superstock contender Steve Mercer and Portuguese rider Luis Carreira who lapped at 119.077 and 119.005 respectively.

The sidecar session was stopped after just over half a lap had been completed due to two separate incidents at St Ninian’s and Kirk Michael. None of the competitors were seriously injured.

Times:

Dainese Superbike TT
1 Cameron Donald (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 131.457mph
2 Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 130.129mph
3 Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda) – 129.027mph
4 Steve Plater (HM Plant Honda) – 128.982mph
5 Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) – 128.886mph
6 Conor Cummins (McAdoo Racing Kawasaki) – 128.334mph

Relentless Supersport TT
1 Michael Dunlop (Street Sweep Yamaha) – 126.299mph
2 Ian Hutchinson (Padgetts Honda) – 125.182mph
3 Keith Amor (Wilson Craig Honda) – 124.223mph
4 Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 123.875mph
5 John McGuinness (HM Plant Honda) – 123.867mph
6 Steve Plater (HM Plant Honda) – 123.397mph

Royal London 360◦ Superstock TT
1 Carl Rennie (WA Corless/Jackson Racing Suzuki)– 126.252mph
2 Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda) – 126.054mph
3 Conor Cummins (McAdoo Racing Kawasaki) – 124.626mph
4 Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) – 124.405mph
5 Mark Miller (WA Corless/Jackson Racing Suzuki) – 124.157mph
6 Ian Mackman (PRF Racing) – 123.678mph