McGuinness and Crowe set fastest practice laps for TT 2008
John McGuinness and Nick Crowe set the fastest practice laps of the week in a hectic final session.
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 Friday Practice Friday evening saw the best conditions of the week for practice, a perfectly dry circuit, no wind and thin high cloud meaning that there were no harsh shadows under trees. The Swan Hotel and its surrounds were packed to capacity by the time that roads closed. After the now mandatory delay to the start, the action was fast when it began. Again it was Guy Martin with the number 1 plate who was first on the roads as the action began. He was Superbike mounted, as were the majority of the seeded riders; Carl Rennie chose his Superstock whilst Gary Johnson was out on his Supersport. Conor Cummins and Cameron Donald drew a few gasps as they went around the right hander side by side on their Superbikes. Both the Relentless machines seemed to be flying; Anstey was quickest through the Sulby Straight speed trap at 190mph. John McGuinness seemed to be very rapid; with the handling problems seemingly behind him. Guy Martin was first back to the Grandstand; his lap at 127.195, the best of the week so far; however that stood for less than minute as McGuinness blazed through to complete his lap at 127.383mph. Both continued for a second lap on the Superbikes. Our very unofficial timing indicated that Guy Martin had lapped at 128mph Ramsey to Ramsey; clearly he had his machine spot on. The same obviously applied to McGuinness who was through the Sulby hairdryer at over 190mph and also on 128mph pace on our watch. Lap two action was excellent for the large crowd with some good dices going on throughout the field. At the Grandstand the stopwatches showed that Martin had put the Hydrex Honda around at 127.777mph; but McGuinness was quicker still lapping at 128.611mph; the best lap of practice week. The Relentless Suzukis have looked impressive all week going about their work quickly and quietly. Having shaken off the attentions of Cummins Cameron Donald posted his best lap of the week at 128.448mph; his best ever lap of the circuit; clearly he has shaken off any ring rust from missing last year’s racing through injury. A quick change saw Martin out on his Supersport machine whilst McGuinness was out on his Superstock machine. He has been happy with this machine since its arrival on the island; he was impressive through the right and left bends as he blasted towards the start of the mountain climb. Others noted as rapid were Ryan Farquhar, on his Supersport Kawasaki, Dan Stewart, Gary Johnson and Keith Amor. It was good to see Michael putting in laps on his Superbike and Supersport machines. McGuinness put in his best lap of the week on the Superstock at 126.566mph; this machine not in Padgett’s Manx Gas colours. A newcomer to the TT, but not to the circuit, Mats Nilsson has been impressive all week getting steadily faster on the Padgett’s Supersport machine; he put in his best lap of the week at 121.010mph. The best lap by a newcomer to the circuit belongs to Stephen McKnight at 117.025mph; James Hillier has lapped at 116.432mph and Jamie Robinson at 115.583mph; excellent given the restricted practice time. The sidecars were led away by lap record holder Nick Crowe and new passenger Mark Cox. They were followed by John Holden and Andy Winkle who have impressed all week on the immaculate Relentless liveried Suzuki outfit. Other early runners in a busy session were Steve Norbury / Rick Long; Klaus Klaffenbock / Christian Parzer and Andy Laidlow / Martin Hull. The crowd were well entertained with many machines snaking across the square as the power was fed in; Bill Currie was particularly good. Dave Molyneux and Daniel Sayle were not one of the early starters as it was just a bedding in run before Saturday afternoon’s first race; which should be a cracker. World Champion Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance have been the most dedicated crew in practice; they put in another three laps with their final circuit being their best of the week at 110.362mph; absolutely superb. Nick Crowe duly completed a very rapid second lap putting up the fastest lap of the week at 115.534mph. John Holden also put in a rapid second lap at 113.117mph, so he will be challenging for the win that he so nearly gained last year. Doug Wright is in only his second year and has also impressed; he lapped at 110.199mph on his third lap. Practice is already over; the week has simply flown past; now for the serious business. The leader boards indicate that the racing will be close and that the lap records in all classes will be beaten. In the Superbikes John McGuinness will start as favourite, he has the best lap in practice and must have the bike to his liking after problems early in the week. It looks like being a Honda v Suzuki shoot out for the top step on the podium, although Ian Hutchinson could disprove that statement if the bike is handling well. The main surprise on the practice leader board is that Steve Plater is down in 24th place; the handling problems that nearly caused him to lose control through Crosby have not been solved; after a first lap at 117.43mph, he pulled off the circuit at Kirk Michael and rode back to the pits and then took his Superstock out. Hopefully the problems can be cured allowing Steve to compete at the sharp end. With 13 riders having lapped at over 124mph the race should be a very close run thing. In the Sidecars, Nick Crowe and Dave Molyneux should be the front runners, they seem to have a little in hand over their rivals and both are confident that they can lap at over 118mph in the race. John Holden may have to settle for third; with Klaffi my choice for fourth. With 8 crews having lapped at over 110mph in practice the competition for places will be fierce; with a top six a strong possibility for Tim Reeves. Practice leader boards. Superbike John McGuinness 128.611mph Cameron Donald 128.448mph Bruce Anstey 127.820mph Guy Martin 127.770mph Ian Hutchinson 126.959mph Ryan Farquhar 126.657mph Adrian Archibald 126.339mph Gary Johnson 125.610mph Conor Cummins 125.438mph Dan Stewart 125.795mph Keith Amor 124.389mph Les Shand 124.248mph Sidecars Crowe/Cox 115.534mph Molyneux/Sayle 115.067mph Holden/Winkle 113.117mph Klaffenbock/Parzer 111.468mph Neary/Winn 111.228mph Norbury/Long 110.785mph Reeves/Farrance 110.362mph Wright/Bond 110.199mph Dongworth/Castles 109.648mph Connole/Chauhan 109.460mph Elmer/Marshall 107.763mph Hanks/Wells 107.621mph
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