Guess what, the weather forecast for Wednesday is:-

Rain ~ A good chance.
Ambient Air ~ 13 deg C
Humidity ~ 80% - 90%
Wind ~ SW up to 30 km/hr
Cloud Cover ~ as high as 90% at times

All in all it aint looking very good.

For once the sun was bright as final preparations were taking place in Pit Lane for the start of the four lap Junior Manx Grand Prix at 1015hrs, the roads having closed on time three-quarters of an hour earlier at 0930.

Jules Croft and Philip McGurk were the first pair away as the flag dropped.

At the end of the opening lap 2008 Newcomers’ race winner Ryan Kneen held an eight second advantage over Stephen McIlvenna, with Michael Russell third. First 250 was Neil Kent in 29th position and quickest lady was Maria Costello in 23rd position.

The end of lap two saw the new Pit Lane Speed Control system come into play. McIlvenna was now in the lead by some 14 seconds from Kneen with David Lumsden now third.

Keith McCay will go down in the annuls of Manx Grand Prix history having been given the first pit lane speed penalty of 30 seconds for a speed of 66.001kph!

McIlvenna enjoyed a 5 second advantage at the conclusion of the third lap with Keen 11 ahead of Lumsden. Michael Russell, Si Fulton and Alan Jackson completed the top six.

So after 150.92 racing miles, Stephen McIlvenna took the chequered flag being first on the road as well as time, completing the distance in 1h 17m 35.33s an average speed of 116.707mph.

Second was Ryan Kneen in a time of 1h 17.41.27 a speed of 116.559mph and third was David Lumsden in 1h 17m 59.72 (116.099mph

Ryan Kneen set the fastest lap at 118.738mph a lap time of 19m 03.93s





Only one minor incident today, in the Junior Manx Grand Prix, Ivan Lintin slipped off his machine at Sulby Bridge, without injury and is OK.

The four lap Classic race was brought forward 15-minutes to 1300hrs.

Weather conditions were described as good by Clerk of the Course, just prior to Ryan Farquhar (500 Paton) and Alan Oversby (350 MV) set off to get the part delayed Classic race underway.

Pre-race it had been thought that the Senior class would be a Paton battle between twice winner Farquhar and ‘new boy’ Olie Linsdell, a revival of their terrific duels earlier in the season at Oliver’s Mount during the Barry Sheene Classic Races, and so it proved as the Ulsterman led on the roads at Glen Helen, but on time it was his Scarborough rival, Linsdell in front by 8-seconds. By Ramsey the lead was up to 12-seconds with Mark Parrett third.

In the Junior race, the MV was leading by nine seconds over Chris McGahan on his Honda twin.

The Paton ‘twins’ completed the opening lap wheel to wheel, with Ryan passing the pits at 128mph, Olie 132! Linsdell set a new lap record from a standing start, upping the speed to 108.912mph, taking a 17 second advantage. Parrett was third.

Oversby was leading the 350’s, with Jonathan Cutts in front in the Lightweight class.

Lap two and the duelling pair were together with the younger rider now leading on the road at Glen Helen.

At Ramsey the lead was up to 18 seconds, with Parrett third and Wattie Brown fourth.

By the end of the lap and the duo went straight through for another 37.73 miles, both having broken the newly set lap record. Linsdell lapping in 20m 41.58s 109.400mph (Farquhar 109.305mph).

The 250 leader had retired at Crosby Hill OK, letting previous double winner Ewan Hamilton into the front of the two-strokes.

Alan Oversby was leading the 350’s on the fabulous sounding MV Agusta from Chris McGahan and Paul Coward.

Ewan Hamilton is in front in the Lightweight from Peter Symes and Jeff Ward.

Glen Helen, lap 3 and the gap was down to 14 seconds between the leading Senior pair, with Farquhar now leading on the road.

Ramsey and Farquhar was back in the lead both on the roads and time, by 3-seconds over Linsdell !

Alan Oversby black flagged at Sulby and has retired.

At the end of the lap Farquhar came into the pits to refuel having blitzed the lap record upping the speed to 110.984mph (20m 23.85s). Linsdell was second and he too came into refuel, but fluffed the restart, having to go back onto the rollers to fire the machine up again. As he left the pits he had a 38 second deficit over race leader Farquhar.

McGahan was still in front in the Junior from Coward and Dave Madsen-Mygdal now third and positions remained the same in the Lightweight, Hamilton, Symes and Ward.

Ryan’s lead at Glen Helen on the final lap was 41 seconds over Olie, with Mark Parrett still settled in third, and then retired at Ballacrye.

At Ramsey, the leader’s advantage was up to 62 seconds. With light rain beginning to fall, Dungannon’s Ryan Farquhar took his third Senior Classic victory in a row, only the second rider to achieve this, setting a new race record in the process. Olie Linsdell retired at Keppel Gate on the run down the Mountain, letting Wattie Brown into second place with Andy Reynolds third.

Chris McGahan took the Junior laurels from Paul Coward and Dave Madsen-Mygdal.

The Lightweight race was won by Ewan Hamilton, achieving another hat-trick, with Peter Symes second and Ian Rycroft third.

As the garlanding ceremonies commenced the rain made its threatened appearance