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After a short delay, around 50 riders got their first taste of the TT Mountain Course at the 2012 Manx Grand Prix Festival.

The rain of the last few days gave way to bright sunshine at the Grandstand although standing water was reported from Laurel Bank to Glen Helen and further wet patches at Handley’s Corner.

The riders were introduced to the course with a speed-controlled lap under the expert guidance of ex and current TT and MGP competitors. Dick Cassidy, in his last year of service after over 30 years as a travelling marshal, was given the honour of leading the riders away while other experienced competitors showing the way included Dave Madsen-Mygdall, Alan Jackson and Johnny Barton.

Loughborough based Andrew Soar and Wigan’s Jamie Hodson, son of TT stalwart Jim were the first newcomers away with other notable mountain course novices included Splitlath Redmond’s John Simpson and Jamie Hodson’s brother Roy who were also involved in the session.

This year’s newcomers field has a particularly international feel with riders from Sweden (Bjorn Gunnarsson), Czech Republic (Kamil Holan), Finland (Tapio Mustonen), Netherlands (Michael Hofman and Peter Heijmans), France (Steve Cervellin), Denmark (Thilo Haefele), USA (David Crussell), Germany (Rene Scheuren and Thomas Gottschalk) Austria (Ernest RIede), Faroe Islands (Terje Joensen) and Belgium’s Renzo van der Donckt all taking to the mountain course for the first time.

Unfortunately the rest of the session was unable to take place due to insufficient marshals signing on to cover the course, so Monday will now be the first chance for the leading competitors to get up to speed. Monday’s session is scheduled to get underway at 18.20 with the Senior, Junior and SuperTwin machines first away followed at 19.05 by Classics, Lightweight and the Newcomers first unrestricted laps.



pics by ManxPhotosOnline.com
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After worries about the road surface following flooding on the Mountain on Friday, a severe lack of marshals for the evening's untimed session meant it had to be limited to the newcomer's controlled speed lap only.

Around fifty riders took to the course almost an hour after the original start time of 5.20pm.

There's a strong international contingent in the newcomers with riders from as far afield as Finland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the USA and the Faroe Islands.

Chairman of the TT Marshals' Association, Terry Holmes, told Manx Radio TT 365 it was a very frustrating situation, especially as conditions appeared to be so good.

The next practice session will be on Monday evening. Roads will close at 6.00pm with a hoped for start at 6.20pm


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