ANSTEY UP AND RUNNING AT CLASSIC TT PRESENTED BY BENNETTS BUT DUNLOP AGAIN TOPS THE BOARD

Bruce Anstey was finally able to complete a lap in the third qualifying session for the 2016 Isle of Man Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts, having been forced to retire early in the first two sessions.

The flying Kiwi posted a credible 113.776 on the Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Motorcycles Honda RS250 that he will race in Saturday’s Sure Lightweight Classic TT.

Michael Dunlop again reminded everyone that he will be the man to beat in Monday’s Motorsport Merchandise Superbike Classic TT Race with a lap of 123.263 (18:21.936), the fastest to date in qualifying.

Dunlop later went out on the Black Eagle Racing MV Agusta he will race in Monday’s Okells Junior Classic TT Race and promptly posted the fastest time in that class to date as well with 102.082 (22:10.572).

Competitors enjoyed the best conditions of the week so far for the third qualifying session for the Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts with the island bathed in sunshine.

The improved conditions were reflected in the lap times throughout the field with many of the riders now clearly dialled in and taking advantage of the dry roads to post their best times of the week.

Michael Rutter, Ivan Lintin, Dean Harrison and James Hillier all posted 122+mph laps in the Superbike class, their fastest laps of the week so far, on their opening laps of the session.

Gary Johnson riding the Team York Suzuki and Jamie Coward on a Mistral Racing Kawasaki were first away from the Grandstand. Johnson led on the road to the first checkpoint at Glen Helen on the opening lap but his time was soon eclipsed by a number of riders including Hillier on the Greenall Racing Kawasaki, Rutter on the Winfield Harris Yamaha and Harrison on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki.

Dan Kneen moved into the top three at Ballaugh on the opening lap riding a Mistral Racing Kawasaki ahead of Harrison with Hillier and Rutter leading the session and Ivan Lintin completing the top five on the Devitt RC Express Racing Kawasaki.

Rutter’s opening lap of 122.337 was the fastest, a couple of seconds ahead of Lintin (122.089) with Harrison (122.084) completing the top 3. Michael Dunlop posted an opening lap of 116.937 but was clearly biding his time before his session topping second lap.

In the concurrent Classic TT Lightweight session, Ian Lougher who has topped the leaderboard for the first two qualifying sessions, was reported as a retirement at Braddan Bridge on his opening lap while Dan Cooper was also a retirement at Ballacraine.

However, there was no such misfortune for Bruce Anstey who was able to complete his first lap of the meeting – 113.776 (19:53.819) – just over a second off Ian Lougher’s fastest qualifying time to date for the class set in the previous evening’s session. He followed this up with a second lap of 113.571.

Paul Owen on the Team 98 Honda and Phil Harvey on the CSC Racing Honda both posted competitive times in finishing second and third fastest qualifiers on the night with 110.068 and 109.077 respectively.

However, with a number of competitors in both the Superbike and Lightweight classes still circulating a red flag incident at the Creg Ny Baa curtailed the session and after a short delay, the bikes that remained on the course returned under yellow flags and were short lapped.

This meant that the second session, for Senior and Junior Classic TT machines was delayed by over 20 minutes before the session finally got underway just before 7.40pm. Morecambe based duo John McGuinness and Alan Oversby had already set off on the Winfield Paton and Davies Motorsport Honda respectively before completing laps under waved yellow flags.

Dean Harrison was an early retirement on the Black Eagle Racing MV in the Junior session at Ballacraine while Oversby also returned shortly after setting off on his second attempt at a competitive lap.

John McGuinness also retired on his second lap but the Team Winfield Paton mantle was picked up by his team-mate Conor Cummins who posted the fastest time of the session with 107.199 (21:07.066) while fellow Paton riding Maria Costello was the second fastest on the night with 105.044 (21:33.554) from Dominic Herbertson (104.902).

Michael Dunlop’s first completed lap on the Black Eagle Racing MV Agusta topped the qualifying leaderboard for the Junior class, beating Michael Rutter’s time from the previous evening while Jamie Coward (101.640) riding the Ted Woof Honda and William Dunlop (100.977) were also both inside Rutter’s previous fastest time for the class.

Ben Wylie was reported as off but unhurt at Laurel Bank in the Superbike session while Tom Snow was also uninjured after coming off at the Nook.

Classic TT Grandstand tickets are available for Friday’s final qualifying session priced at £5. All prior qualifying sessions are free for the main Grandstand. There are also race day tickets available for both Classic TT race days on Saturday 27th and Monday 29th August as well as VIP and Platinum hospitality tickets. To purchase tickets go to iomtt.com or phone Duke Marketing on (00 44) 1624 640011