John McGuinness saved the best until last in practice week for the 2008 Isle of Man TT Races, rocketing to the top of the Superbike times with a lap of 128.61mph in Friday evening’s final session. The Morecambe man, riding the Padgett’s Manx Gas Racing Honda, had endured a few handling issues during the course of the week and, with Tuesday and Wednesday evening’s practice having been lost to poor weather, it was vital that he found a good setting heading into the first race on Saturday. Thursday evening saw him go the wrong way with the adjustments to the front end of the machine but the necessary changes were made on Friday and, after an opening lap of 127.38mph, he went quickest for the week on his second lap with his 128mph+ lap. This puts him in great shape going into tomorrow’s opening 6-lap Superbike race. He was equally impressive in his other two classes and although he didn’t get to do a lap on the Superstock machine until Thursday evening, he was able to go second fastest overall with a lap of 126.56mph on Friday evening. His regular 600cc Padgett’s Honda is also working well on the Island and he ended the week in third overall with the time he set on Monday evening, 122.60mph. Speaking on Friday evening, upon the completion of practice, John said: “It’s taken us a bit of time to get the Superbike working to my liking but with losing two nights practice due to bad weather that’s to be expected. It’s also a brand new model and we’ve got no previous data to use so we’ve had to explore all of the options before finding the optimum set up. We went the wrong way on Thursday and that led to a few stability issues but Dunlop gave us a different tyre to use and that, combined with further changes to the set up, allowed us to go fastest tonight.” “I was beginning to panic a bit with the Superstock bike as having only done 1 lap by Thursday wasn’t ideal but I managed to get two fliers in tonight and the bike feels really good so we’re right in the ball park. The 600 was ready to race after two laps on Monday evening so things are looking good for all of the classes. No ones really been setting the world alight and we’ve all been on the back foot a bit but the weather looks like it has turned for the better so fingers crossed we can get a good, dry race tomorrow.” The 6-lap Dainese Superbike race gets the festival underway at 12.00pm tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Guy Martin’s publicist: Strong TT practice week for Martin Guy Martin heads into the 2008 Isle of Man TT Races in confident mood after a strong practice week around the 37 ¾ mile Mountain Course that has seen him constantly at the forefront on the time sheets. The Hydrex Bike Animal Honda rider was immediately on the pace and although Tuesday and Wednesday’s sessions were lost due to rain and mist on the Island, he has posted extremely competitive times in all of his classes and is well placed to claim that much yearned for first TT win. The Kirmington ace has been, as expected, happiest on the Superbike machine and having been fastest through the week, he was shuffled back to fourth on Friday evening but, with extremely close times, his lap of 127.77mph sees him more than in contention The Superstock machine has also been working well around the torturous public road circuit and with a lap of 124.59mph on Monday evening, the 26-year old ended the week 6th fastest overall. The one machine that has been most problematical has been the 600cc Honda and, after the dramas of the North West 200, where Guy crashed out, a new bike was built just in time for practice. A misfire on Monday meant he failed to complete a lap, pulling in as early as Quarter Bridge, and it was a similar story on Thursday where he lapped at a relatively lowly 114.43mph. However, it all came good on Friday and a lap of 121.45mph saw him haul himself right back in the hunt. After completing Friday evening’s session, Guy commented: “After missing Tuesday and Wednesday evening’s practice, we’ve been chasing ourselves a bit with the set up of the machines and time has been against but it’s been the same for everyone and we’re not a million miles away. We had a problem with the ’07 forks on Thursday so put the ’08 ones in for tonight and they were working fine but the old ones have been repaired today in time for the race so that should help no end. The WSB-spec engine has taken a bit of tweaking but the times have been good in all of the practice sessions and we’re ready to race and as strong as anyone.” “The 600cc bike was suffering from a misfire so it was good to get a good, clean lap on it tonight and we’re confident we’ve cured the problem in readiness for Monday’s first race. The Superstock bike has only been out at the North West 200 and it’s required a completely different set-up here, as you’d expect, but I’m really pleased with how it’s been working. The Pirelli’s have been mint all week and with the weather looking good, there should be some good racing. Like I say, we’re not far off and I’m feeling good going in to the races what will be will be but let’s hope it’s my year.” The first race for Guy sees him out on the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda Fireblade in the 6-lap Dainese Superbike race, which gets underway tomorrow at 12.00pm.