David Jefferies killed in TT practice

David Jefferies was been killed and Jim Moodie injured during practice for the Isle of Man TT on Thursday afternoon.

Jefferies, 30, was riding a TAS Suzuki GSX-R1000 when he crashed at Crosby. Triumph rider Moodie was injured when he crashed into the wreckage. There is no news on what caused Jefferies’ crash at the moment – but it is believed that another bike dumped oil on the road shortly before the incident.

Rumours that an unauthorised vehicle was on the roads and somehow caused the accident have been strongly denied by the ACU. The Race Management committee is currently meeting at a scheduled conference but have stressed that no official statement on the cause of the accident will be made until the coroner’s report has been published.

Moodie was airlifted to Douglas hospital with injuries to his neck after getting tangled in telephone wires strewn across the road when Jefferies’ bike hit a telegraph pole.

His injuries were not serious however and he decided to go back out on the bike after doctors gave him the all clear.

” The death of David has left the team shocked and devastated. Not only had David become a very close personal friend of the whole team, but he was a fantastic motorcycle rider and a real ambassador for our sport. Our thoughts are with Pauline, Tony and the rest of his family circle now and their tragic loss, ” said TAS Suzuki team manager, Philip Neill.

Suzuki GB sales and marketing director Mr Ichiro Kondo released a statement expressing his shock at the news. He said: ” Obviously we are very shocked and saddened by the tragic news about the death of David Jefferies at the TT races. He was a great rider, but above all he was a great man. We pass on our deepest sympathies to his family on their immense loss. ”

MonsterMob Ducati’s John McGuinness was following Jefferies but managed to stop before crashing and was able to return to the pits safely.

No other riders have been involved or injured.

The afternoon session was stopped immediately while the road was cleared although the sidecar practice session went ahead at 3.30pm.

MCN will continue to update this story as more news comes through.

To post your tribute to Jefferies click the link on the right to go to our TT discussion board.