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Friday, 02 June 2006 |
TT LAP RECORD SMASHED
 THE TT record book was
smashed to smithereens on Wednesday evening with two stunning laps by
the HM Plant Honda trio of solo ace John McGuinness and the formidable
sidecar duo of Dave Molyneux and Craig Hallam.
Never
before have the outright solo and sidecar lap records been broken in
the same practice session, albeit unofficially, setting the 2006 TT up
for a marvellous week of high speed racing.
McGuinness had been
complaining all week that high winds were hampering his progress on the
mountain section of the 37.7-mile course, but despite cross winds in
certain areas on Wednesday his extra weight and upper body strength
enabled him to wrestle the 1000cc Fireblade superbike to an
electrifying lap of 17 minutes 42.7 seconds — a speed of 127.810mph.
'Conditions were a lot better this evening,' admitted the eight-times winner from Morecambe.
'The Fireblade is well set up now and I'm happy with the way it is handling. It felt good out there.'
Barely
one hour later, Dave Molyneux and Craig Hallam fired the 600 Honda
round the same piece of tarmac at a speed of 116.224mph, a time of 19m
28.67s — 1.8 seconds inside the record set by Moly and Dan Sayle in
last year's sidecar B race.
'Everything was spot on tonight,' admitted Moly.
'The
sun wasn't really a problem and we weren't bothered by the wind. Craig
is a very good passenger with an excellent understanding for the bike,
he's also a good solo rider so he knows exactly where I need him. He
gives me a lot of confidence.
'To be honest, Craig and I should
have cracked 20 minutes back in 1999, but we had a few mechanical
problems and after that I lost interest for a while. But I'm right back
on it now.'
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