Classic TT: More frustration as practice curtailed for a third night

After mist and low cloud around the Mountain Course led to the cancellation of Monday and Tuesday’s qualifying sessions, a road traffic accident resulted in further frustration on Wednesday, with only the newcomers completing a lap.

Dry roads and clear skies finally prevailed, but the incident at Guthrie's prior to the scheduled start of practice caused a long delay.

Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson announced a new start time of 7.30pm, but shortly afterwards a further delay was confirmed, with the section of the course at Guthries deemed unsuitable for racing.

With time running out, Thompson then confirmed that only the newcomers would complete a lap.

So far, just one session was held last Saturday evening, which was also halted prematurely due to deteriorating conditions on the Mountain.

Dean Harrison, who won the Classic TT Superbike race last year, completed one lap and set the fastest time on his Silicone Engineering Kawasaki at 122.266mph before retiring on his second lap at Glen Duff.

Due to the lack of practice time, a daytime session will be held on Thursday in addition to evening qualifying.

Roads will close at 12.30pm with the first qualifying session running from 1pm to 3.55pm. Roads will then open again at 4.30pm around the course and close again at 6pm for the scheduled evening qualifying session.

It now seems likely that a daytime session will also be pencilled in on Friday.