Manx Grand Prix: Michael Dunlop ups pace to 125mph on Team Classic Suzuki and tops Lightweight class on 250 Honda

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The Ulster rider then went straight through for his first flying lap on the GSX-R750 SRAD machine but rolled off the pace, registering a speed of 125.24mph.

Dunlop has been consistently fastest through the speed trap at Sulby and clocked 176.2mph on his second lap, with Dean Harrison’s Key Racing Ducati 916 timed at 167.26mph.

Bradford man Harrison was third fastest at 124.256mph after doing two laps, with Aussie David Johnson second quickest on the Alasdair Cowan Racing Kawasaki ZXR750 (124.433mph).

Wigan’s Rob Hodson (Greenall Racing Kawasaki) was fourth fastest at 124.127mph ahead of Dominic Herbertson (BHR Racing Kawasaki), Craig Neve (Alasdair Cowan Racing Kawasaki), Julian Trummer (RC Racing/DP Coldplanning Kawasaki) and Brian McCormack (Greenall Racing Kawasaki).

Derek Sheils (Greenall Racing Kawasaki) and Michael Rutter on the Bathams Racing Suzuki XR69 were the top ten.

Mike Browne (Davies Motorsport Yamaha) and Paul Jordan (Mistral Kawasaki) were among the retirements in the session.

Earlier, Dunlop also topped the Lightweight times on his 250cc Honda after a standing-start lap of 115.946mph, which was 7.2s faster than Ian Lougher on the LayLaw Racing TZ250 Yamaha (115.253mph).

Dan Sayle, who did two laps on the Baz Gas 250 Honda, set his best speed of 113.328mph for third on the leaderboard.

Magherafelt man Jordan was fifth on the Faraldo Racing 450GP Yamaha (112.227mph) ahead of Shaun Anderson on the ARD 690 Kramer.

John McGuinness completed two laps on the Winfield Paton in the Senior Classic session and topped the times at 110.848mph, which was 35 seconds ahead of Dean Harrison on the Craven Racing Norton (107.722mph).

Banbridge man Shaun Anderson slotted into third on the Peter Beugger Paton (107.331mph) after two laps with fellow Northern Ireland rider Adam McLean fourth on the Flitwick Motorcycles Royal Enfield with a lap of 106.794mph.

Cork rider Browne was on a fast lap from a standing start on the Peter Grantham Lodge 500 Norton but appeared to run into problems.

A stiff and sore Michael Sweeney, making his racing comeback after a serious crash at the North West 200, was seventh fastest on the CSC Racing/IMS 500 Yamaha after doing two laps.

Tom Robinson from Stockton-on-Tees was fastest in the Senior MGP class on the Pete Stacey Kawasaki at 120.128mph, which put him top by a mere 0.057s from Daniel Ingham (Russell Brook Yamaha R6), who finished second in the race last year behind Liverpool’s Stephen Smith.

Manx newcomer Joe Yeardsley was seven seconds back in third as he impressed on his Spin Arena Yamaha, lapping at 119.318mph.

In the Junior MGP class, Italian Andrea Majola (Manici Racing VAS Engine Paton) led the way at 16.102mph after two laps, only 2.3s ahead of Peel’s Marc Colvin (115.872mph) on the RC Racing Kawasaki.

Spain’s Victor Lopez, riding the Team ILR Paton, was third fastest (115.579mph) as four seconds covered the trio.

Paul Cassidy (109.281mph) was quickest in the Ultra Lightweights from Daniel Ingham (106.622mph).

The organisers implemented a contingency window to run an additional session on Wednesday afternoon after Monday evening’s action was cancelled due to low cloud on the Mountain.

Wednesday evening’s qualifying schedule was cancelled due to deteriorating weather.

A contingency qualifying session will now be utilised on Thursday afternoon, with roads closed from 12:30pm, followed by the evening practice sessions, when roads will close again from 6:00pm.