The HM Plant Honda riders took to the TT course this evening for the final practice session, ahead of tomorrow’s first race – the six-lap Superbike TT.

Conditions were perfect for the final session, although the solo riders were out late from 7.20pm for an hour, as the sidecars were practicing before hand, but were allocated a full hour to put the finishing touches to their machines.

John McGuinness was happy with his HM Plant Honda CBR1000RR Superbike set-up and it was therefore decided to leave things alone and just concentrate on final set-up for the Supersport and Superstock machines John will ride for Padgett’s Honda during race week.

Keith Amor went out on the HM Plant Honda in the Superbike class to test a different tyre which proved to be beneficial, while Michael took a Honda Fireblade around the course for a lap to make final checks in preparation for the first race, when he will ride in the Superbike class as a privateer entry.

Havier Baltran, HM Plant Honda Team Manager, commented,

“Everything has gone to plan over the five days of practice and all three riders and their respective machines are ready and eager to begin the race programme. Michael will be riding the HM Plant Honda Superstock spec Fireblade in the Superbike race tomorrow under the banner of Batham’s Honda. He completed his practice in 10th place and should feature well in the results on Saturday. John McGuinness missed out on the number one spot by just three seconds but we are happy with both bike and rider and he is raring to go. Keith Amor ended his qualifying in eighth position and he too is hopeful of a strong finish on Saturday.

"We’d also like to say huge thanks to everyone at Fort Dunlop Motorsport. We experienced a few tyre issues during the first half of the week and discussed those with Dunlop. They felt they could resolve the problem and, produced a new tyre for us within just two days and have that flown out yesterday in time for the final practice session. The dedication and hard work from all the tyre technicians to turn this around has been incredible.”