Well, Baldassarre Monti's fastest lap was 22m.52s.8 (a TT fan wrote me). The bike he raced was not a Ducati Monster but a Britten V-1000, the same bike raced by the poor Farmer who fatally crashed at Black Dub during 1994 TT practices. Unfortunately that crash was the end of the career for Monti who didn't make a full recovery since then. He has actually psycomotor problems...

And yes, Cantalupo is a very strong rider! In 1997 he made a very good impression to all on the isle. He would have wanted to come back on the isle in 1999 but the italian motorcylcle did't give hime the licence. The bike he used this year is absolutely not the best possible on the TTcouse so his best lap time can be considered very good. And he has been the first italian rider to have gone under the 1967 Agostini lap record! I don't know if he has intention to come back next year (do you know which problem did he have in the Senior race?). Instead it's probable that the other italian rider, Umberto Rumiano, will come back next year. This year's TT has been his very first pure road race.

Sincerely,

Marco