HM Plant Honda’s John McGuinness, Keith Amor and Michael Rutter all upped the anti during Wednesdays practice session at the Isle of Man TT, with John being the only rider to post a lap in the 130mph zone.

Much welcomed sun and blue sky met the competitors for this evening’s practice session to provide near perfect conditions, except for the ever present Manx population of flies who were again out in force!

John McGuinness shined yet again and took control of the timesheets on his Fireblade Superbike. Having posted a 129.265mph lap from a standing start, it was clear as John sped down the Glencrutchery Road to begin his flying lap that the times would be even faster next time around. The hugely experienced rider pulled it out of the bag and recorded the fastest time of the evening on his second lap with 130.242mph – 17m 22.89s, with the promise of more to come.

Team-mate Keith Amor also bettered his earlier lap time to achieve 127.925mph – 17m 41.78s on the HM Plant Honda Superbike to record the sixth fastest time of the night.

Meanwhile, Michael Rutter continued to familiarise himself with the HM Plant Honda Superstock machine, putting in another four laps of the course to end the evening in sixth position in the overall standings and equal his times from Tuesday with a lap of 125.494mph – 18.m 02.34s.

John commented,

“I seem to have found the magic ingredient to get a fast lap in around the course. I have been feeling the pressure a bit this week but I sat down with the team and discussed things. They said to just go out and enjoy myself and the results will come. That’s exactly what happened and I feel much happier now. We had a couple of issues with the bike but they have now been resolved and the weather conditions are now better, so I am raring to go.”

Keith said,

“We’ve tried a few different things tonight to get the bike to a happy medium and where I want to be for the race. I am really enjoying myself, the bike is working well and the team are pulling out all the stops to get me comfortable so I am sure we will be fully prepared come race day.”

Michael said,

“I’m enjoying being back at the TT and everything is going well for me. Mind you, the bike is running better than me right now! I am happy with my lap times and we should be up to speed by the end of the week, ready for the race.”

Havier Baltran, HM Plant Honda Team Manager, concluded,

“Everything has gone pretty well tonight. John has got his head down and pulled a fast lap out of the bag and Michael is plugging away and getting plenty of laps in. We’re happy with the way Keith is riding; he has adjusted well to the HM Plant Honda team and Fireblade Superbike and is making good progress. It is obvious that consistency and knowledge are paying off for all three riders. Of course Keith and John are not only riding for HM Plant Honda in the Superbike class but both are also contesting the Supersport and Superstock classes, so they are pretty busy. Tonight we have ironed out all our set-up issues from the differing track conditions and, with another two nights of practice ahead of us are feeling positive for the races which begin on Saturday.”