Friday 25th August

Change to this evening's schedule

6.20pm - 7pm: Classic TT Superbike & Lightweight plus MGP Senior, Junior & Newcomers A

7.05pm to close - Classic TT Senior & 350 plus MGP Lightweight & Newcomers B

Issued on Friday, 25 August 2017 at 11:45am by Ronaldsway Met Office

Generally cloudy this afternoon and evening with hill fog and occasional showery rain hereabouts, but most of it should be light.
Top temperature 17 Celsius, with light or moderate southwest winds.

The Mountain at 16:00 hrs.

17:45 - Slight mist on the mountain, but it looks good to GO

18:19 and they are GO

19:15 - Incident on the Mountain - Ambulance on course to evacuate rider. Taken to Nobles by Helimed, leg injuries (conscious). - Mark Foster.

19:25 - Session called off due to amount of debris on the course and the need to clear it before roads open again

We'll be on air at 6pm with practice coverage from Chris Kinley and Chris Palmer at the Grandstand.

Listen to Manx Radio online via the MR Smartphone app, AM1368, 87.9FM in Douglas and 100.6FM in the north


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Michael Dunlop was finally able to compete his first Superbike qualifying lap ahead of Monday’s Motorsport Merchandise Classic TT Superbike Race and immediately moved to second place on the overall leaderboard for the week.

A change to the advertised schedule saw the Superbike and Lightweight Machines go out first in the final full qualifying session for the 2017 Classic TT presented by Bennetts because of the power requirements for tyre warmers.

Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson confirmed that the track was dry with good visibility and the combined Classic TT Superbike and Lightweight session roared into life on time at 6.20pm.

Dunlop was first to Glen Helen on the opening lap but Dean Harrison, riding the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki was quickest to the opening sector a couple of seconds ahead of Dunlop with Jamie Coward third fastest on the Mistral Racing Kawasaki just over a second further back.

Dean Harrison was reported as a retirement at Ballaugh leaving Dunlop at the front of the session and the Northern Ireland rider was first through the Grandstand on the opening lap in 124.92.   Coward (123.77) was ten seconds back in second place ahead of three other Kawasaki riders - teammate Dan Kneen (122.79), who was marginally ahead of  Greenall Racing rider Horst Saiger (122.765) with Ivan Lintin (120.91) on the Kraus Racing bike completing the top five.

Dunlop was reported to have stopped at Hillberry on his second lap making adjustments, eventually completing the lap but Jamie Coward was enjoying a clear run to post the third fastest Superbike lap of the week (124.012) on his second lap.

In the concurrent Lightweight Classic TT session, Bruce Anstey on the Padgetts Motorcycles.com Honda continued his dominance with a lap of 117.54 – outside his unofficial lap record from Wednesday but comfortably ahead of Michael Rutter (113.36) on the Red Fox Grinta Racing Ducati with Gary Vines on the Online Lubricants Yamaha completing the top three.

The second session for Senior and Junior machines got underway at 7.05pm. In the Senior class, William Dunlop was first to Glen Helen on his Davies Motorsport Honda from Josh Brookes on the Winfield Paton and Ian Lougher on the John Chapman Racing MV Agusta while Maria Costello was an early retirement at Quarterbridge.

The second session for Senior and Junior machines got underway at 7.05pm. In the Senior class, William Dunlop was first to Glen Helen on his Davies Motorsport Honda from Josh Brookes on the Winfield Paton and Ian Lougher on the John Chapman Racing MV Agusta while Maria Costello was an early retirement at Quarterbridge.

In the concurrent Junior Classic TT qualifying session Alan Oversby was eight seconds quicker than second placed man Phil McGurk with Dominic Herbertson on the Davies Motorsport Honda completing the top three.

However, with the Classic TT session approaching Ramsey, an incident in the MGP Junior qualifying session resulted in an all course red flag with the rider transferred by airmed to Nobles.

The circulating machines were brought back to the Grandstand and the session was curtailed shortly after 7.15.

A late switch to the advertised schedule saw the Senior and Junior Machines go out first in the final full qualifying session for the 2017 Manx Grand Prix.

Michael Evans on the Martin Bullock Motorsport Suzuki that he will race in Friday’s Senior Manx Grand Prix, was first to Glen Helen on the opening sector and dominated the session with an opening lap of 120.58 which he followed up with the fastest lap of the week (121.22).

However, Barry Lee Evans – also riding his Senior machine – the PRF Racing Suzuki clocked 119.30 on his second lap to remind the Manx rider that he will face a strong challenge for the race win.

The top five was completed by three riders out on their linked Junior machines with Dean Osborne’s 119.18 the fastest Junior time on the night, less than four seconds ahead of Tom Robinson (118.79) with Brendan Fargher on the Paul Smyth Racing Yamaha completing the top five Senior and top three Junior board with 118.04.

In the Newcomers A qualifying session Darryl Tweed again established himself as the man to beat in Monday’s race with his fastest time to date – 115.32 – on t he M&D Racing Triumph with Stephen Parsons on the people’s bike Kawasaki 114.48 and Brad Vicars (112.91) riding a Merlin Sidecars Honda finishing second and third respectively.

The session ended at around 7pm and riders were setting off from the Grandstand for the Newcomers B and Lightweight session at 7.05.  However an incident at Brandywell towards the end of the MGP Junior qualifying session resulted in an all course red flag with the rider - Mark Foster - transferred by airmed to Nobles Hospital with a suspected broken leg. Gaz Evans, who was involved in the same incident, was unhurt while Noel Carroll was reported to be uninjured after sliding off at Sulby Bridge.

Darryl Tweed leading Stephen Casey on the run to Douglas Road Corner, Kirk Michael.
Photo: Dave Kneen / Pacemaker Press Intl.