After the frustration of yesterday’s session, when the Lightweight, SuperTwin and Newcomers B competitors sat in pit lane without turning a wheel as the mist came down, Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson switched the order to put them out first in this evening’s qualifying for the IM Gold Manx Grand Prix.  

Fast times were in evidence in all the classes, with many riders taking advantage of the excellent conditions around the Mountain Course to post their best times of the week.

The Manx Grand Prix Newcomers A were clearly finding their feet around the Mountain Course with the top eight riders posting their fastest times of the week in the fifth qualifying for the 2016 IMGold Manx Grand Prix Newcomers Race.

The Isle of Man’s Michael Evans continues to dominate clocking 114.990 (19:41.211) from fellow Manx rider Brendan Fargher 113.015 (20:01.858) and Austrian Julian (112.475).  The top twenty riders in this evening’s Newcomer A session all posted 100mph laps which will give them confidence ahead of Monday’s Race.

It was a similar story in the Newcomer B class where Cheshire’s Jonathan Perry moved to the top of the overall leaderboard with 107.869 breaking the 21 minute lap barrier for the first time with Australia’s Paul van der Heiden and Marc Ironside both posting 107mph+ laps.

Local rider Andrew Dudgeon continued his fine form in the Junior class, breaking nineteen minutes for the first time with a lap of 119.188 (18:59.615). The top four riders – Dudgeon, Tom Weedon (118.998), Richard Charlton (118.394) and Davey Lambert (117.420) all posted their fastest times of the week.

Dudgeon was also prominent in the SuperTwin session when he clocked 112.664 on his second lap although Wigan’s Jamie Hodson was fractionally quicker at 112.647 to top both the session and the overall leaderboard for the class.  David Lumsden (110.465/ 20:29.606) also improved on his best time of the week.

The Lightweight competitors also relished the conditions with the top four in the class beating their previous best qualifying times.  Dan Sayle continues to dominate with a lap of 109.107 from Dave Taylor (105.427) with Rikki McGovern (104.453) and James Caswell (102.822) also improving on their times from earlier in the week.

Callum Ward at the Waterworks in the Newcomers A and Mike Moulai at Ramsey Hairpin in the Junior were both reported off but unhurt.

Michael Evans is the fastest Newcomer to date, with a lap of 114mph.