NEWCOMER JOE YEARDSLEY IMPRESSES IN JUNIOR CLASS
Michael Dunlop set the first 126mph+ lap of the week during Thursday afternoon qualifying for the centenary Manx Grand Prix but the headlines came in the MGP Supporters Club Junior class with newcomer Joe Yeardsley topping the leaderboard.
The Laxey rider lapped at 117.373mph, almost nine seconds inside Francesco Curinga’s supertwin lap record from twelve months ago, whilst Dunlop’s lap of 126.046mph saw him again top the RST Classic Superbike leaderboard.
Elsewhere, John McGuinness (110.574mph) was quickest in the Carole Nash Classic Senior class with Daniel Ingham (Mylchreests Group Senior) and Dunlop (Sure Lightweight) lapping at 119.775mph and 116.535mph respectively.
Perfect weather greeted the riders and after a five-minute delay, the Classic Superbike and Senior session got underway at 1.05pm with Dunlop again first away on the Team Classic Suzuki followed by Brian McCormack (Greenall Racing Kawasaki), Dean Harrison (Key Racing Ducati), James Hillier (KTS Racing by Steadplan Kawasaki) and Rob Hodson (Greenall Racing Kawasaki).
Michael Rutter, Derek Sheils and David Johnson were also amongst the early starters with Chris Cook (Alasdair Cowan Racing Kawasaki), Andrew Fisher (Fisher Racing Yamaha), David Rigby (Gasiom/DOT Racing Yamaha) and Shaun Evans (Bee Mad Road Racing Yamaha) away first in the Senior class.
Nathan Harrison (Ashcourt Racing Honda) only made it as far as the bottom of Bray Hill before pulling off the course with Mike Browne (Davies Motorsport Yamaha) stopping at Ballacraine and riders at the start line were then held for a short while as the course was inspected at St Ninian’s for course contamination.
Dunlop was again setting the pace though, completing the opening lap at 126.046mph, and he was followed over the line by Dean Harrison (123.896mph), McCormack (122.652mph), Craig Neve (123.687mph) and Hodson (122.557mph).
In the Senior class, it was Cook who was first to complete the lap at 117.893mph followed by Rigby (117.628mph) but both newcomer Marcus Simpson (118.619mph) and Tom Robinson (118.578mph) overhauled them at the top of the leaderboard. It was only for a short time though as Ingham went quickest on the Russell Brook/Brook Built Yamaha at 118.894mph.
Dunlop pulled in at the end of the lap which left Johnson, Hodson and Neve to lead the way on lap two and it was 2019 winner Johnson who was quickest of the trio at 125.414mph. That put him second quickest with Hodson (124.701mph) and Neve (124.097mph) slotting into third and fourth.
Ingham remained quickest in the Senior class although he failed to better his first lap speed second time around, but Victor Lopez (118.486mph) and Yeardsley (118.362mph) did which put them fourth and fifth on the leaderboard. However, Ingham did a third lap and reinforced his status at the top of the timesheets with a lap of 119.775mph.
At 2.25pm, the Junior, Classic Senior and Lightweight session got underway with Hillier (CSC Yamaha), McGuinness (Winfield Paton), Shaun Anderson (Beugger Racing Paton) and Browne (Peter Grantham Lodge Norton) all away early in the Classic Senior class as was Dunlop on his 250cc MD Racing Lightweight Honda.
The latter was the first rider back at the Grandstand with a lap of 116.535mph and that put him ahead of Ian Lougher (116.515mph), Paul Jordan (112.972mph) and Dan Sayle (111.916mph) on the Lightweight leaderboard whilst Browne was the pacesetter in the Classic Senior class at 109.265mph from Anderson (106.029mph) and McGuinness (105.581mph).
The headlines came in the Junior class though as Lopez lapped at 116.629mph unofficially breaking the lap record for a Supertwin from a standing start. Yeardsley (115.490mph), Ingham (114.948mph), Andrea Majola (113.926mph), Jamie Williams (112.934mph) and Maurizo Bottalico (112.691mph) completing the top six.
Lopez’ lap didn’t last long at the top of the leaderboard though as Laxey’s Yeardsley flew round the course on his second lap with a speed of 117.373mph. Spaniard Lopez remained in second with Bottalico up to third after lapping at 115.460mph whilst Ingham (115.443mph), Marcus Simpson (115.417mph) and Michael Rees (114.663mph) also improved.
Meanwhile, McGuinness reasserted himself back at the top of Classic Senior leaderboard with a lap of 110.574mph whilst newcomer Stephen Tobin was quickest of the Ultra-Lightweights after lapping at 105.044mph.
