THURSDAY evening saw perfect conditions for the Isle of Man TT practice session which saw both Ian Hutchinson and John McGuinness lap at more than 130mph.

The session began at 6:24pm with only a damp patch at Laurel Bank. PBM Kawasaki’s Ian Hutchinson and Penz13’s Michael Rutter were first away followed by the Tyco BMW duo – Wiliam Dunlop and Guy Martin. Gary Johnson and Michael Dunlop followed suit.

Hutchinson crossed the line with a  lap speed of 129.793mph followed by Rutter, Martin and Wiliam. Anstey and McGuinness slotted into second and third in the Superbike class with laps of 129.139mph and 128.642mph respectively whilst Michael Dunlop proved himself on the BMW by posting a Superstock lap speed of 128.447mph.

Hutchinson was the first to break the 130mph at this year’s TT on his second lap with a speed of 130.266. Anstey was just over two seconds slowed at 128.957mph whilst McGuinness finished a 130.030mph lap, 1.8s slower than Hutchinson.

William finished in fourth with an impressive 129.419 on the BMW, whilst his team-mate Martin ended his lap slower at 128.529.

In the Superstock class, Michael Dunlop increased his pace second time around to 129.659, which was the fourth fastest lap of the night, with Hutchinson jumping up to second on 128.308 and David Johnson into third on 127.470.

At 7:05pm the Supersport and Lightweight machines took to the Mountain course, but this was red flagged due to an incident at Ballagarey. Roy Richardson was taken to Nobles hospital via helicopter and is reported to have leg injuries.

Gary Johnson was quickest in the Supersport class with a speed of 124.307mph on the Mar-Train Yamaha with Anstey the only other rider over 124mph. William Dunlop was third with Dean Harrison, Ian Hutchinson and Lee Johnston completing the top six.

Ryan Farquhar continued to set the pace in the Lightweight class at 117.432 as he chases his fourth TT win, with Ivan Lintin (116.804) and Jamie Hamilton (115.538) in second and third. James Cowton, Daniel Cooper and Michael Sweeney completed the top six with Rutter getting his first full lap in on the Paton at 111.588. McGee again impressed at 111.254.

Due to the red flag, the sidecars had their session slightly shortened, but Dave Molyneux/Ben Binns set the early pace with a lap of 114.291. Ben and Tom Birchall were next over the line at 113.072 but once gain, it was John Holden/Dan Sayle who finished quickest at 114.742mph, five seconds faster than Molyneux.

Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance slotted into third at 113.720 as Conrad Harrison/Mike Aylott and Ian and Carl Bell also lapped above 110mph. Last year’s quickest newcomers, Alan Founds/Tom Peters, were also going well with their opening speed being 108.163.

Second time around Molyneux stopped at Kerromoar and Reeves and Birchall were practically inseparable at 113.966 and 113.922 respectively. Harrison improved to 111.533 with the Bells not too far behind at 110.933.