Wednesday August 23, 2017 at 1:11pm
The infamous ‘Manannan’s Cloak’ lifted around the Isle of Man allowing the second qualifying for the 2017 Manx Grand Prix to go ahead after yesterday’s session was cancelled.
Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson advised competitors of a number of damp patches following the earlier rain, notably at Ginger Hall, Ramsey Hairpin, on the exit of the Bungalow, Graham’s, Hillberry and Governors Dip, where a number of newcomers were caught out in Saturday’s opening session.
The session got away on time at 6.20pm and the Senior and Junior machines were first on the track.
Local rider Michael Evans on his Martin Bullock Motorsport Senior machine – a Suzuki GSXR 750 – was first to Glen Helen from Bishop Auckland based Richard Charlton, the Isle of Man’s Brendan Fargher and Tom Robinson who were all riding Junior MGP 600 bikes.
Evans, as he had in Saturday’s session, topped the overall board with a lap of 116.347, which he posted on the first lap. Robinson, from Barwick, posted his fastest lap of the week to date (116.135) on his second lap to top the Junior board from Australian Royce Rowe (115.203) and Fargher (114.885) with the Isle of Man rider Glenn Harrison (114.692) and Charlton (114.465) completing the top five.
Colchester’s Gary Vines was the fastest Lightweight machine on the night with a second lap of 110.130, less than a second ahead of Spain’s Victor Lopes Santos (110.059) with local rider Jamie Williams (109.834) the third fastest on the night. Cheshire rider Jonathan Perry (109.416) and Royce Rowe (108.639), were fourth and fifth respectively.
The MGP newcomers enjoyed their first timed laps after Saturday’s untimed session and the top ten riders in the Newcomers A session all posted 100mph laps with Manchester’s Mike Norbury topping the board with 109.138 from Darryl Tweed (108.959) and Brad Vicars (106.209) while in the Newcomers B David Quine showed his local knowledge with the only 100mph lap of the class.
Nick Anderson was taken to Nobles hospital with a shoulder injury after an incident at Ramsey Hairpin on his Lightweight machine while Newcomer Matt Stevenson was reported as uninjured after an accident at Governors.