2018 Classic TT

Saturday Qualifying

Superbike Classic TT

Dean Harrison enjoyed a mixed evening in the opening qualifying session for Classic TT 2018 while 23-time TT Race winner John McGuinness completed his first lap of the course since the 2016 Classic TT, appropriately riding the same Winfield Paton that he won the 2016 Bennetts Senior Classic TT Race on.

In the opening Superbike session Harrison, belying the perception of Classic Bike racing, posted the fastest lap of the evening – 122.266mph – on his opening lap on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki but he was reported as a retirement at Glen Duff on his second lap and missed the rest of the session.

While Harrison was laying down his marker for the week, 2016 Junior MGP Race winner Andrew Dudgeon on a ZXR750 Kawasaki, Michael Rutter (Team Winfield) and Horst Saiger (Greenall Racing Kawasaki) all posted 115+mph laps on their first laps on the Mountain Course since the TT. Dudgeon’s 118.93 on the second lap was the second fastest of the evening, fractionally ahead of Saiger’s second lap (118.92).

Superbike Classic TT Saturday Qualifying

1. Dean Harrison – Kawasaki 122.27
2. Andrew Dudgeon – Kawasaki 118.93
3. Horst Saiger – Kawasaki 118.92
4. Michael Rutter – Ducati 116.38
5. Michael Evans – Kawasaki 115.85
6. Paul Jordan – Kawasaki 115.61
7. Forest Dunn – Kawasaki 114.13
8. Rob Whittall – Suzuki 112.84
9. Josh Daley – Kawasaki 111.41
10. Andy Lovett – Kawasaki 110.42

Lightweight Classic TT

In the concurrent Lightweight Classic TT session rising road racing star Adam McLean posted the two fastest laps – improving his opening lap of 112.328 to 114.740 while Dan Sayle, after problems on his opening lap posted 109.671 on the Steelcote Solutions Yamaha.

Lightweight Classic TT Saturday Qualifying

1. Adam McLean – Yamaha 114.74
2. Daniel Sayle – Yamaha 109.67
3. Paul Owen – Honda 107.19
4. John Barton – Ducati 106.33
5. Gary Vines – Yamaha 105.84
6. Rikki McGovern – Honda 105.74
7. John Barton – Ducati 104.89
8. Peter Boast – Kawasaki 104.48
9. Alex Sinclair – Ducati 104.41
10. Steven Howard – Yamaha 103.00

Senior Classic TT

Conditions were deteriorating around the course with mist coming in ahead of the second session which was eventually flagged at the end of the opening lap.

However, there was time for John McGuinness to make a popular return and the ‘Morecambe Missile’ showed that he had lost none of his ability after a two year absence with an opening lap of 104.95 in the Senior Classic TT session.

Maria Costello (Team Beugger Racing/ Paton) and Olie Linsdell on the Flitwick Motorcycles Enfield also posted 100mph+ laps.

Senior Classic TT Saturday Qualifying

1. John McGuinness – Paton 104.95
2. Maria Costello – Paton 102.03
3. Oliver Linsdell – 100.01
4. Chris Swallow – 99.58
5. Lee Johnston – Honda 98.46
6. Mark Parrett – Norton 97.08
7. Alan Oversby – Honda 96.13
8. Bob Owen – 94.94
9. Chris McGahan – Honda 93.21
10. Meredydd Owen – Seeley 92.13

Junior Classic TT

Hondas dominated the Junior Classic TT session with the Davies Motorsport pair of Dominic Herbertson and Michael Rutter topping the board – Herbertson with 99.71mph fractionally ahead of Rutter who posted 99.19mph.

Junior Classic TT Saturday Qualifying

1. Dominic Herbertson – Honda 99.71
2. Michael Rutter – Honda 99.19
3. Peter Boast – Honda 95.77
4. Steve Ferguson – Honda 93.38
5. Hefyn Owen – Honda 92.14
6. Sam Johnson – Honda 92.10
7. Ewan Hamilton – Honda 90.61
8. Jeff Ward – Suzuki 90.16
9. Jack Hunter – Honda 89.54
10. Alec Whitwell – Honda 88.93

With all the newcomers completing their first laps, Monday’s session is due to get underway at 18.20 with Lightweight and Junior machines with the CTT Junior and Senior session scheduled to start at 19.10.

Dream of going to the TT!

How about doing it on your own bike!!!