A beautiful, warm and sunny day on the Isle of Man meant conditions were perfect for the final qualifying session of the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy. After the cancellation of the previous evenings solo session, the competitors were champing at the bit to finalise their preparations for the opening race day tomorrow. A number of riders who had been beset by problems in the previous sessions were hoping just to complete a trouble free lap and ensure qualification for the opening 6-lap Superbike race. After the problems the previous evening, the solos were granted a longer session and with 100 minutes of track time provisionally scheduled, everyone was looking to get in at least 5 laps with many of the front runners looking to capitalise on the extended session and complete 6. However, a road traffic accident at Ginger Hall caused a near 25 minute delay and it wasn’t until 6.44pm that the action finally got underway. Guy Martin on the Relentless by TAS Suzuki again led them away with Keith Amor alongside him on his 600 for the first time this week. Next to go were the Kawasaki duo of Ryan Farquhar and Adrian Archibald followed by Michael Dunlop, James Hillier, Gary Johnson, Bruce Anstey and Ian Mackman. Johnson was the man setting the pace through the early sectors with John McGuinness close behind on time. Less than half a second separated them at Ramsey while Martin, Cameron Donald and Dan Stewart were also going well. Dunlop was quickest through the speed trap at 195.6mph but Martin was the first to complete the lap, posting 128.693mph. Gary Johnson was next at 128.554mph followed by Farquhar at 125.728mph and Dunlop at 126.849mph but McGuinness and Stewart went quicker at 128.635mph and 127.682mph respectively. Anstey clocked a lowly 117.465mph having stopped at the Bungalow to make adjustments. James Hillier, Luis Carreira and John Burrows all lapped in excess of 124mph with Conor Cummins going well too at 123.568mph. Newcomers Dean Harrison, Robert Wilson and Dan Hegarty were also improving up to 115.873mph, 115.532mph and 111.068mph, the latter on his Supersport machine. He then did 116.021mph on his Superstock machine. McGuinness was really flying on his second lap and went quickest at 130.615mph just over 4 seconds ahead of Martin on 130.075mph and Dunlop on 130.024mph. Michael Rutter was also pressing on with a lap of 128.261mph. Johnson, meanwhile, jumped on his 600, putting in a lap of 123.087mph. Also lapping at a good pace was Senior Manx Grand Prix winner Simon Fulton who posted a new personal best lap of 121.785mph. Dunlop put in a lap in excess of 125mph on his Supersport machine with McGuinness slightly slower at 123.516mph whilst other newcomers shining were Simon Andrews on 121.039mph and Harrison, who improved to 118.479mph. Meanwhile, local star Dan Kneen put in his best lap of the week on his Kawasaki Superbike with a lap of 123.710mph with Anstey, Donald and Amor lapping in excess of 127mph also on their Superbikes. However, it was bad news for Farquhar who fell off his Superbike at Keppel Gate, and was later reported to have soft tissue injuries and an overnight stay in Nobles. The best lap of the week though was saved right until the final moments of the final practice session when Anstey scorched round at a speed of 131.431 mph, just shy of the outright lap record, to throw down the gauntlet to the rest of the opposition ahead of race week. Anstey wins the Graham London Limited edition TT Watch awarded to the fastest solo qualifier. The session ended at 8.00pm and the sidecars were away ten minutes later with John Holden again leading the field off the line followed by Tim Reeves and Ben Birchall although the latter stopped almost immediately, seemingly having a problem with the chain, eventually getting away last. Last year’s double winner Klaus Klaffenbock was slightly further back with Gary Bryan, Dougie Wright and Rob Handcock not far behind. Harrison was the quickest to Glen Helen but, as the lap wore on, Holden and Reeves started to get quicker and there was little to choose between the two on the stopwatches, Reeves lapping slightly quicker than Holden at 113.321mph compared to 112.707. For Reeves, that represented his best ever lap of the Mountain Course. Harrison was next across the line at 110.709mph, followed by Elmer who was slightly quicker at 110.788mph whilst Greg Lambert finally got a clear lap in with a speed of 107.043mph. Reeves and Holden spent their second lap circulating in close formation, the former flying through Sulby at 144.3mph, although the duo eased off in the closing stages of the lap. Meanwhile, an impressive lap came from newcomers Carl Fenwick and Mark Sayers, the duo circulating in a fine 104.452mph. Frank Lelias and Jerome Vannier were also going well at 102.079mph. However, despite Reeves’ best efforts Klaus Klaffenbock and Dan Sayle narrowly clinched the Graham Watch award as fastest sidecar qualifiers with their time of 113.754 from Wednesday’s practice. Tomorrow’s Dainese Superbike Race is scheduled to start at 12 midday with the Sure Sidecar Race 1 away at 3pm (GMT). To listen live to Radio TT’s commentary for all and follow live timing at the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races go to www.iomtt.com More, from a press release issued by Honda TT Legends: Honda TT Legends ready to race It’s been an eventful practice week for the Honda TT Legends at the 2011 Isle of Man TT but after the final session this evening both John McGuinness and Keith Amor are ready to race in tomorrow’s six-lap Superbike battle. The week began in impressive style for both riders despite heavy rain putting a premature stop to the first session. They tackled the TT circuit in close formation to top the leader board in the early stages McGuinness with a 122.838mph lap and Amor with 122.637mph. The weather took a turn for the better on Tuesday with near-perfect conditions for the evening practice. It was another good day for McGuinness as he set the pace and topped the timesheet for the second day in a row with a lap of 129.041mph. Amor ended the session in seventh. Wednesday proved tough for the team as Keith Amor suffered a highside at Quarterbridge after hitting a patch of oil on his superstock machine. The result was a painful separation of the shoulder joint, ending his session and leaving him out of practice on Thursday. In the end, Thursday’s session was cancelled due to an oil spill, meaning today’s sun-soaked practice was the next and final opportunity to get to grips with the famous TT circuit. Having received the all clear from the medical team, Amor showed his grit with a two laps on his supersport machine and a lap on the Fireblade. McGuinness ended the week by pushing past the 130mph barrier with a 130.615 lap to end the practice week as the second fastest rider overall. Neil Tuxworth, team manager It’s been a bit of a mixed week but overall we’re pleased. Keith had a crash that we thought might put him out of the meeting, however tonight he’s gone out and done three laps so he’s reasonably happy. It will be difficult for him but at least he can do the race tomorrow and I’m sure he’ll be competitive. John is much happier tonight he has said that the bike is handling as well as last year. He’s ended second fastest so generally I’d say it’s been a good week. John McGuinness I’m as prepared as I’m going to be for the race. The bike’s working terrifically and I’ve had a reasonably good practice week. If the sun shines tomorrow I’m going to have to be going really fast to win it. There’s some really competitive boys out there who’ve been going really fast in practice but I want to win it as much as any of them. I’m starting number one so I’m the man to chase and as soon as the flag drops I’ll be away as fast as I can. I definitely want to win it it’s what I’m here for. Keith Amor The week started off really well we had a good amount of time on the superbike and we were working well towards a good set up. Hitting an oil patch and highsiding was not in the plan, but the doctor has said I’m ok to race and I still feel strong enough to be able to do a good job. I’m trying not to get my up hopes too high as I don’t want to be disappointed but on the flipside of that I don’t to let them get too low either. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: After posting the second fastest Superbike lap time of 129.333mph this week on his Relentless Suzuki by TAS GSX-R1000, Guy Martin has declared himself fit, healthy and ready to race, despite missing last night’s practice session along with the rest of the 2011 TT solo competitors. A road traffic accident followed by an oil slick dumped by a sidecar forced the session to be abandoned. Tonight (Friday) will be the final practice available to solo competitors before tomorrow’s six-lap Superbike TT. The action gets underway at 12pm. Making his TT debut with the Relentless Suzuki by TAS team is former Suzuki Endurance Racing Team member and Le Mans 24-Hour winner Guillaume Dietrich. The German-born “Newcomer” set a speed and time of 102.187mph/ 22:09.21sec. Guy Martin: “We’ve had a steady-away practice week and as I’ve told quite a few people already, the racing starts on Saturday, so there’s no need to hang them out in practice. It’s a matter of getting everything the way we want for racing and the big GSX-R1000 Superbike is ready to race. I’ve enjoyed this week getting back out on the TT Circuit and I feel comfortable and confident on the TAS Racing bikes; everyone is doing their job and we’re happy, so let’s hope it all comes together on Saturday.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “Although it is still very early days, it really is pleasing to get off to a good start. Guy has now completed four laps on the Superbike – two on the Superstock and two on the Supersport bike. He has declared himself happy with each of his GSX-R machines after taking the second fastest time of the week at 129.333mph. He even declared the Superbike ready to race already, although we will continue to make some very minor tweaks to help make his job that little bit easier. “Guillaume is steadily finding his way around the TT Circuit and is enjoying the experience, although he did have a minor mishap on his first lap earlier in the week. We are obviously not concerned with his lap times at this point. It is very important that he feels completely comfortable before building up speed. “As I say, so far so good; let’s hope it continues this way and we have some luck on our side this year!” Guy Martin’s Lap Times to date: Superbike – 129.333mph/ 17:30.22sec. Superstock – 125.720mph/ 18:00.40sec. Supersport – 123.182mph/ 18:22.66sec. Guillaume Dietrich’s best lap to date as a Newcomer: 102.187mph/ 22:09.21sec. More, from a press release issued by Tim Reeves’ publicist: Reeves and Cluze show fine form in final practice Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze saved the best until last in practice for the Isle of Man TT Sidecar races and a superb lap of 113.321mph was good enough to place them second fastest overall on the leaderboard going into Saturday’s opening 3-lap race. After a solid start to the week, Tim and Gregory put in their first real quick laps on Wednesday evening posting a best lap of 111.379mph but problems on Thursday saw them slip back to 106.697mph. However, with conditions perfect on Friday evening, Tim signalled his intentions with a standing start lap of 113.321mph, comfortably Gregory’s quickest ever lap of the Mountain Course. They looked odds on to better that speed on their second lap with substantially quicker sector times only to run low on fuel at Hillberry before limping home but with the bike handling well and flying through the speed trap at Sulby (144.9mph), hopes are high for the first race tomorrow. Speaking afterwards Tim said: “We started the week steadily and were buidling up nicely, the lap of 111mph+ on Wednesday being particularly pleasing but problems on Thursday saw us take a backward step. I wasn’t happy after that session but we got the bike fixed in time for the final practice session and I had a good go, catching John Holden on the first lap and then going quicker on the second but as we were coming over the Mountain I started to run low on fuel as we didn’t start the session with a full tank so I had to limp home. The bike’s absolutely flying now and it’s easy for people to forget that it’s only Greg’s second time but he’s doing brilliantly. I’ve no hesitation in saying he’s the best passenger in the world but the TT course takes a while to learn and it’s a big jump up from the speeds he did on his debut 12 months ago. He’s been absolutely faultless though and I’m feeling really strong now going into the first race.” The first 3-lap Sidecar race is scheduled to get underway at 3.00pm on Saturday. More, from a press release issued by Keith Amor’s publicist: Amor bounces back at the TT Scots ace Keith Amor bounced back from a Wednesday evening practice crash to declare himself fit and raring to go at the Isle of Man TT Races after a solid evening of practice on Friday. The Honda rider fell from his KBMG Superstock Honda exiting Quarterbridge late on in Wednesday’s session suffering a partial tear of the AC joint in his right shoulder but returned on Friday to put in 4 laps of the Mountain Course on both his Superbike and Supersport machines. Practice week had been progressing well for Amor with a lap of 127.531mph on the Honda TT Legends Superbike on Wednesday evening whilst he was also above 123mph on the Superstock on Tuesday but it all went wrong late in Wednesday’s session when he highsided on the way out of Quarterbridge after hitting a small patch of oil. The injury required Keith to sit out Thursday’s session (although this was later cancelled due to an oil spillage) but after some physio and sessions in the Island’s hyperbaric chamber, he was back out on the grid for Friday’s final session, which was bathed in glorious sunshine. Taking his brand new KBMG Supersport Honda out for the very first time, Keith put in 3 laps on the 600cc machine, the best of which was 122.660mph, to go 8th fastest on the leaderboard and then did one more lap on the TT Legends Superbike. Testing his injured shoulder out, Keith was still able to lap at 127.106mph and was happy enough with his fitness to confirm his participation in tomorrow’s Superbike race. Talking later, Keith said; “The week started off really well and I was happy with my times and how the bikes were working, everything was going along nicely. We made a few changes to the Superbike on Wednesday, which didn’t work out, so I went out on the stocker only to hit a patch of oil and highsiding into the bushes certainly wasn’t part of the plan. The doctor gave me the all clear so I went out on Friday on the Supersport bike as I hadn’t managed to get a lap in on it due to the crash so had to put in some laps to qualify! I then came in and went out on the Superbike and although not 100%, I was able to put in a half decent lap time. I’m not quite physically strong enough to man handle the bike through some of the sections so I was having to be a bit careful and roll it off in places where I normally wouldn’t. I’m having to ride a bit conservatively and that’s making it frustrating but I’ll give it my best shot tomorrow and see where we end up.” The 6-lap Superbike race is the first race of the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races and gets underway at 12.00pm. More, from a press release issued by John McGuinness’ publicist: McGuinness all ready to race on the Island John McGuinness enjoyed an excellent evening of final practice at the Isle of Man TT Races and with tomorrow seeing the first race action, the Honda TT Legends rider is in prime position to add to his haul of 15 TT wins. A Superbike lap of 130.615mph was good enough for second fastest on the leaderboard whilst solid laps on his Padgetts Honda’s also leaves him handily placed in both the Supersport and Superstock classes. With Thursday evening’s practice session being cancelled due to an oil spillage, all of the riders were keen to capitalise on Friday’s perfect, sunny conditions and John took his Honda Superbike out on course first of all, his opening lap being just over 128mph. However, with a clearer track second time around, John pressed on and set his best lap of the week, 130.615mph, to go to the top of the leaderboard, only a lap by Bruce Anstey of 131.431mph in the closing stages pushing him back to second. It was also a good night on the Padgetts machines with a lap of 123.516mph on the Supersport bike placing him 5th on the overall leaderboard and 125.310mph on the Superstock leaving him in 8th but extremely happy with the performance of both machines. Speaking later, a pleased John said: “I was happy with all of the machines after Tuesday night practice but we tried a few things with the Superbike on Wednesday, which didn’t work out, so we eliminated them and I reverted back to what had worked on Tuesday when I did 129mph. Losing Thursday night was obviously a bit of a blow but it was the same for everyone so I just got stuck in tonight. It was a lovely sunny evening and ideal for some fast laps so I had a real good go on the 2nd lap and was pleased with the lap. Bruce put in a bit of a flyer at the end so is definitely going to be one of the main contenders but there’s a quite a few other lads who are going well so it’s going to be a tough race for definite.” “The stocker’s working well and it’s a race winning package so we’re handily placed in that class whilst it’s the same with the Supersport bike. It’s certainly in the ball park so I’m feeling good for all of the races so I’ll give it my best shot as always and see where we end up.” The opening 6-lap Superbike race is due to get underway at 12.00pm on Saturday. More, from a press release issued by Centurion Racing: Cooper Ready To Rock At 2011 TT Races Dan Cooper and the Centurion Racing team will go into tomorrow’s opening Superbike race at the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races in a good frame of mind after enjoying some positive track time in the final practice session. With Thursday evening’s session cancelled due to an oil spillage on a five-mile stretch of the course, it was crucial to take full advantage of Friday’s final session and Dan and the team did just that. Opting to take the Triumph Daytona 675cc out this evening, Dan put in three successive laps on the machine, the best of which was 115.063mph to firmly ensure qualification for the two four-lap Supersport races. After a slight problem on the Wednesday evening with the front mudguard rubbing, this issue was resolved allowing Dan to complete some solid, consistent laps. However, with the session delayed due to a traffic accident, he was unable to get out on his Honda Superstock machine but his lap of 115.163mph from Wednesday had already ensured qualification for tomorrow’s six-lap Superbike race, which is due to get underway at 12.00pm. Paul Rees – “I’m happy with how the week’s gone and although we would have liked more track time it’s been the same for everyone and what time we’ve had, we’ve used it well and it was good to get a full night in tonight after Thursday’s cancellation. Dan’s found the big bike a bit of a beast but he’s been relaxed the whole way through and just been going about his business intelligently and professionally. He’s enjoying himself as are all the team and it’s great to be here. Everyone’s so friendly and the atmosphere amongst all the competitors is superb so we can now look forward to race week. It’s the Superbike TT first, a full six laps, so we’re all hoping Dan has a good, safe and enjoyable ride to put us all in a good frame of mind for the rest of the week.” Centurion Racing will continue to show their support for Help for Heroes, their chosen charity, by displaying H4H logos on the bikes’ new livery designed by Rage Designs and team attire. Dan’s race helmet has been kindly donated by Arai and will be a one-off design by RichArt showing both the H4H and IOM TT logos. Team Principal Paul Rees, who spent 20 years in Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Commandos, was given permission to have the bikes carry the H4H logos in order to encourage the public to be more aware of this charity that supports our Armed Forces, many of whom are making daily sacrifices in Afghanistan and Iraq. Centurion Racing would specially like to thank Arai, FTR, GPR Racewear, Dunlop, Rage Designs, RichArt, R2 Logo Print & Embroidery, Akrapovic, Daytona, and Alan Smith of Smiths of Gloucester for personally supporting Dan, and all our friends and followers.