Wednesday 31st
May 2006
Highlight of Wednesday night’s practice session
in the Isle of Man TT meeting was not one, but two,
unofficial lap records. First of all came news of a
lap at 127.81 miles an hour by John McGuinness, breaking
– unofficially – his own outright record
of 127.68 set up two years ago. His Superbike Honda
stopped the clock at 17 minutes 42.73 seconds on his
second circuit of the night.
Not to be outdone, the sidecar crew of Dave Molyneux
and Craig Hallam also weighed in with an unofficial
record lap. Their speed of 116.224 broke Molyneux’s
fastest sidecar lap which he set up, in last year’s
race, with Dan Sayle.
Earlier, Guy Martin got the solo practice off to a
scorching start when he recorded the fastest time of
the week, up to that point. His lap of 18 minutes 2.48
seconds represented a speed of 125.477 miles an hour,
while Ian Lougher (125.390) and John McGuinness (124.996)
were close behind.
Conditions were the best of the week so far, the strong
winds which had posed problems for the competitors on
the first three practice sessions having abated considerably.
This was adequately demonstrated by McGuinness’s
record-breaking lap. He will now be hoping to do it,
officially, in the race itself on Saturday. Martin,
too, went even faster than his opening lap, recording
a speed of 126.414
Interest in the TT meeting is greater than ever this
year. Site visits to Duke Marketing’s website
at www.iomtt.com are up by around 44% over the past
week compared with the same period last year. Total
visits, since January 1st number more than 1.5 million,
averaging over 10,000 a day. Yesterday (Tuesday) saw
well in excess of 21,000 visits to the site and the
demand for information is expected to reach a peak of
around 35,000 on Monday of Race Week.
Fastest speeds of the night – TT Superbike: John
McGuinness, Honda, 127.810; Guy Martin, Yamaha, 126.414;
Ian Lougher, Honda, 125.390. TT Supersport: Bruce Anstey,
Suzuki, 122.008; John McGuinness, Honda, 121.908; Guy
Martin, Yamaha, 121.310. TT Superstock: Guy Martin,
Yamaha, 122.970; Ian Hutchinson, Kawasaki, 121.522;
John McGuinnness, Honda, 120.793. Sidecars: Dave Molyneux/Craig
Hallam, Honda, 116.224; Nick Crowe/Darren Hope, Honda,
110.357; Klaus Klaffenbock/Christian Parzer, Honda,
109.961. A total of 212 machines went through scrutineering,
including 54 sidecars.
James Cornell, the sidecar passenger injured in Saturday
night’s opening practice, was described as ‘still
critical.’ However, there was better news about
his driver, Doug Dano, who has now been discharged from
Noble’s Hospital in Douglas.
Medical reports were also issued in respect of the
two riders who collided on the exit from Union Mills
on Monday night. Japan’s Jun Maeda was said to
be ‘critical’ while Seamus Greene was ‘critical
but stable.’
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