Fulton Flying at Manx Grand Prix

The Classic, Post Classic, Ultra-Lightweight and Newcomer B Groups opened up Tuesday’s practice session at the Manx Grand Prix, sponsored by visitisleofman.com. Conditions were generally dry and favourable although strong winds were reported across the mountain section.

The session got underway, following a short delay, at 6.35pm after an ambulance had to attend to a domestic emergency, and Dave Moffitt and Dave Taylor set off first from Glencrutchery Road on their Ultra-Lightweight machines.

Moffitt was first back to the grandstand and was clocked at 106.601 with Mike Minns closely behind him at 105.045 but while Michael Dunlop posted the quickest speed through the Sulby Speed trap, clocking 149.1mph, the early pacemaker back to the grandstand on time (109.680mph) was Mark Buckley in the Post Classic Class on his Suzuki XR69.

Olie Linsdell followed closely on the ‘68 Paton at 108.894mph in the Senior Classic class with Alan Oversby (103.498mph) on a ’72 MV and Olie’s father Steve (100.168mph) on a 1970 Enfield Seeley also over the ton.

Olie then went out on his Yamaha FZ 746 and promptly posted the quickest time of the evening, and indeed the first 110+ lap of the 2010 Manx Grand Prix meeting, with a time of 110.035 in the Senior Post Classic class ahead of Buckley and Michael Dunlop (106.725). Roy Richardson topped the post classic Junior leader board with 109.136 with adopted Manxman Chris Palmer 107.165 and Ulsterman Brian Mateer 106.004 also posting quick times.

Phil McGurk continued his impressive form with 108.174 for his opening lap in the Ultra-Lightweight on his 650cc Kawasaki with Rab Davie hot on his heels posting 107.023. McGurk extended his time to 109.475 on the second lap with Dave Moffitt (107.654), Dave Bell (107.481) and Andy Lawson (107.468) all closely behind.

In the Newcomer B Group Jonny Heginbotham opened up with another 100mph plus lap, clocking 102.761 and he followed up with an impressive 105.037 on his second lap.

The Senior, Junior, Lightweight and Newcomers A groups started their session shortly after 7.15pm and the riders in the Junior class quickly set the benchmark with Wayne Kirwan (115.264mph) posting the fastest time of the week, Simon Fulton (114.912mph) and Michael Sweeney (114.890) were also comfortably quicker than anyone else in the week to date. Fulton then extended the fastest time of the week to 117.110mph on his second lap with Sweeney (116.123) and Ivan Lintin (115.386) also exceeding Kirwan’s first lap, Lintin having earlier posted 112.196, the fastest Senior time of the night which was later exceeded by Andrew Brady (116.836) although Lintin came back with a second lap of 115.386. Lintin also posted the quickest Sulby Speed trap time of the evening (178mph) on his Suzuki GSXR 750.

Manxman Dan Sayle led the Lightweight leaderboard on his first lap with an impressive 111.030, which he later extended to 112.409 from Roy Richardson (110.718) and Nigel Moore (108.122).

In the Newcomer A Group, local rider Andy Fenton opened up with the fastest newcomer time of the week with a 110.834mph lap ahead of Northern Ireland’s Shaun Anderson (108.851) and another promising Manx newcomer Tim Venables (108.002) also recording his fastest time around the mountain course. Fenton then improved his time to 113.432 on his second lap shortly before the session was flagged at 8.10pm

Osmo Partti was seen by a paramedic after an incident at Sarah’s Cottage but was reported to be OK as was Gary Fowler at the Waterworks. Wayne Martin was taken by Airmed to Nobles with leg injuries following an incident at Whitegates while Darryl McGeown was taken back to the paddock by Ambulance but reported as okay after an accident at Governors.

Wednesday's practice, scheduled to start at 6.20pm, will see the Senior, Junior, Lightweight and Newcomers A start the session with the Classic, Post Classic, Ultra-Lightweight and Newcomers B due to go out at 7.15pm