Sunday final qualifying round up from the Isle of Man TT

Isle of Man TT Qualifying

Sunday Final Qualifying

Practice and qualifying at the TT is now finally over. Poor weather conditions have, until now, seriously affected proceedings, and the event has struggled to get off the ground with stop/start sessions and cancellations the norm.

With many riders struggling for set up and some yet to complete enough laps to qualify, the officials persevered on Sunday with qualifying in an attempt to provide as much track time as possible before we go racing in anger.

Today was supposed to be a double session. But that proved to be a little over ambitious. An hour’s delay to allow the wet roads to dry meant a 1400 start.  That was then pushed back another 30 minutes. The schedule was rejigged to put the sidecars out first and all was going well. But when Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley crashed at Rhencullen in the dieing stages of their allotted 40 minutes (bringing out the red flags) it spelled the end of any notion of back-to-back sessions as roads had to be opened by 1830.

Founds and Walmsley were airlifted to the hospital, but both were said to be conscious and talking, although Founds was reported to have arm injuries. (More on that later)

At that point, a two-lap dash for Superbike/Superstock/Supersport  was arranged, followed by a single lap for the little twin bikes. Thankfully that went off without a hitch.

Michael Dunlop grabbed the headlines, setting the fastest time of the day with a lap of 132.003mph. Michael seems to have finally dialled in the Rokit SMR BMW and looks competitive on it for the first time all week. It should be said that that lap started from pit lane and was also impeded when he was flagged down at the end of the session, slowing him before the stopwatch stopped. It will give the 29-times winner confidence going into tomorrow’s 6-lapper as he has appeared to be really struggling and has been lagging behind his rivals. Dunlop only banked his first 130mph lap of the week on the big bike yesterday.

Damp patches were reported in all the usual places this afternoon such as Greeba, Glen Helen and Kerrowmoar but at 2:30pm we finally got the nod to go and Shaun Anderson led the field away on the Team Classic Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Dean Harrison was next on the road before Dunlop set off in 3^rd. From that point all eyes were on Deano and MD as they circulated 10s apart; Harrison the ‘hare’ and Dunlop the ‘hound’.

There’s no doubt that Michael had his rival in his sights, for he was slowly but surely catching him at each sector and on the road. The eager focus of the commentary team on the battle and the animation in their voices would almost have led you to believe that we were watching a race. But there will have been few complaints on that front as the throngs of spectators have been starved of competitive action this week and were more than ready for some excitement.

In the end Michael almost got onto the back of the Honda but Harrison led over the line. MD will have taken a boost from that though with the BMW completing the lap 8 seconds faster than Harrison. Todd was 3^rd  in the session with a steady lap of 129.812mph. All three pulled in after that with Harrison and Todd electing to go for a spin on their Supersport bikes.

Dunlop however waited in the pits with his team crowded around the number 6 machine, making adjustments. The clock was now ticking and it seemed as if ‘the Bull’ was going to run out of time as the end of the session edged a little closer. Eventually, with the countdown on, the 36 year-old sped away down Glencrutchery road with just seconds to spare. At this point with the road-open time worryingly close, attention turned to the Supertwins who were lining up to start.

You would have been forgiven for forgetting that Dunlop was on track for a period as the commentary focused on the little bikes getting away, but suddenly Chris Boyd in the tower burst over the airwaves to announce that Michael was absolutely flying and had posted ‘purple sectors’ all the way to the Bungalow, indicating that he was circulating faster than anyone had all week on a Superbike.

When he crossed the line (after being flagged down as Supertwins were still starting) it was confirmed that he had indeed nudged to the top of the superbike pile on Sunday times. Finally, Dunlop had arrived at TT 25, however it should be noted that Todd and Harrison have lapped faster on their stock bikes. You couldn’t help but wonder if Michael has been sandbagging and really had pace all along. But I’d imagine that’s unlikely as the ‘Bull’ normally likes to flex his muscles in front of his rivals if the speed is there and the opportunity presents itself.

The crash in the sidecar session involving Founds and Walmsley was absolutely spectacular. They had also had a long spell in the pitlane as the session continued without them.

They had decided to fit new tyres to scrub in over a lap before tomorrow’s race. There was great intrigue as team members struggled to fit the big fairing back over the AWB Engineering DDM Honda. A fiddly R-clip seemed to be the causing a lot of bother, but eventually with the session all but over the no. 2 machine raced away for one final lap of practice.

Unfortunately, the pair would only make it about 14 miles. As they crested the second part of Rhencullen, the outfit became airborne and at that point Founds joined Walmsley in the roll of passenger as they flew towards a wall, completely out of control.

Thankfully they merely glanced of the wall and appear to have come out of the crash relatively unscathed given the potential for serious injury in a clash like that.

It will be a heart-breaking situation for the boys, and is extremely disappointing for the fans also. They looked to be the only realistic challengers to the Crowe brothers this year. That being said, last year’s double winners lapped 30s quicker than even Founds and Walmsley on the opening lap. But now, more than ever, as things stand the three-wheel races look like a foregone conclusion at TT 25.

There was little to report from the other solo laps spun during the solo session. No-one set the world on fire in terms of lap times, with riders keen to simply to make good use of the bike-time and gain some extra miles ahead of the start of racing.

Mind you, there was some unusual names topping the tables but it should be noted that that was because the usual suspects were focusing on Superbike.

For the record, Dean Harrison topped the Supersport charts on Sunday with a lap of 124mph. And local hero, Conor Cummins was fastest man on track in the Stock class. The two-metre man banked a lap just shy of the 130 at 129.835mph ahead of Mike Browne and Jim Hind. North West 200 winner, Paul Jordan was fastest in SuperTwins, with Adam McLean and Baz Furber completing the top 3. The trio all lapped around the 118mph mark, quite a bit shy of the fastest times of the week.

Monday’s schedule starts bright and early. If all goes to plan then we should start with the 6-lap RST X D30 Superbike TT at 1045. That will be followed by the three-wheeling.media Sidecar TT at 1315.

The Monster energy Supersport TT is then set to go at 1500, but if the previous 10 days is anything to go on then Monday’s timetable may be viewed as merely a suggestion of what will happen, for it could well be ripped up and rewritten by the time alarms are going off around the island on Monday morning.

You can be sure that the officials will do all they can to get through the programme as it stands, for a yellow weather warning has been issued on the island for Monday night. Campers have been advised to take extra precautions and residents encouraged to secure their bins. Weather of that kind should be unthinkable on what will be officially the second day of the Northern Hemisphere summer. However, there may be a positive. A storm of that magnitude might just take those pesky rain clouds with it and leave some still air and blue skies in its wake. Chance would be a fine thing.

Superbike Fastest Times of the week

Superstock Fastest Times of the week

Supersport Fastest Times of the week

SuperTwin Fastest Times of the week

Sidecar Fastest Times of the week